SIVANANDA'S INTEGRAL YOGA - The Divine Life Society

CONTENTSPRAYERFUL DEDICATION TO BHAGAVAN SIVANANDA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iiiA LITTLE OF ALL ........................................1Yoga Asana ..........................................2Diet . . . ...........................................4Pranayama. ..........................................4Health Redefined .......................................5THE SECRET OF SELFLESS SERVICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Compulsive Sharing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Spontaneous Overwhelming Generosity . . . . . . . ...................13Trying Situations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14The Razor’s Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Fearlessness .........................................18The Refuge Of Destitutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20The Spirit ..........................................21SeeGodInAll........................................21Training Of Disciples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23SEEGODINALL........................................31Mantra Repetition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Religious Freedom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35True Catholic ........................................37Worship Of God In An Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Worship Of The Omnipresent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Vibhuti Yoga ........................................41Devotional Singing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Satsanga ...........................................47Prayer ............................................50Faith In God .........................................52VIRTUE AND VISION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Yama-Niyama ........................................55Renunciation. ........................................58Pratyahara (Abstraction of the Senses) . . . . . . . . . ..................70Meditation ..........................................70Siddhis (psychic powers) or (perfection) ..........................73The Mighty Intellect Of Gurudev . . . . . . . . ......................75SELF-KNOWLEDGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Gurudev’s Preceptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Sravana, Manana, Nididhyasana . . . . . . . . ......................81CONCLUSION. .........................................83iv

CHAPTER ONEA LITTLE OF ALLIn the history of the world there have been sages, saints and prophets who have practisedand preached one or the other modes of approaching the goal, which is self-realisation. It wasGurudev 1 , the prophet of integral yoga, who insisted “It is not enough to practise any one kind ofspiritual discipline, however well you may strive to do so. Every aspirant should incorporate in hisspiritual programme all the items of all the yogas or modes of approaching God.”Gurudev had no doctrine of his own. He re-delivered the same message that has from thebeginning of time been given to us by the divine. His were the lips of God. He was one with God.Yet, if we can audaciously read a doctrine into his teaching, his own unique approach to the scienceof yoga can be called “The Yoga of a Little” or the yoga of synthesis. He warned us that only theharmonious development of the entire being could take us easily to the goal. A weak spot anywherein the structure would ruin the whole.He composed a rather simple but beautiful little song, which he himself sang in theMahamantra tune at every meeting he addressed, especially during his All-India-Ceylon Tour in1950.hare rama, hare rama, rama rama, hare harehare krishna, hare krishna, krishna krishna, hare hareEat a little, drink a little;talk a little, sleep a little.Mix a little, move a little;serve a little, give a little;Work a little, rest a little;study a little, worship a little.Do asana a little, pranayama a little;reflect a little, meditate a little,Do japa a little, do kirtan a little,write mantra a little, have satsanga a little.Do all these, little, little. You will have time for all.Was the Master against doing more of these wonderful things–like japa, asanas, ormeditation? You ask, “Why only a little, why not much?” Then, we go on to interpret this to mean,“Do at least a little .. ..” But he really meant just this, “Do a little of each, don’t specialise.” That wasthe message–because the thing that clamours for specialisation is the ego, for the specialist isadmired by the crowd. Specialisation fattens one’s ego, weakens the spirit of tolerance andunderstanding, and creates contempt and hatred.1In this work, “Gurudev”, “Swamiji and ” the Master" refer to Swami Sivananda.1

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAYoga is harmony. A beautiful, symmetrical and integral development of the total being,which means exercising every aspect of your personality every day. Otherwise there is animbalance of personality, which is no yoga. In Gurudev’s way therefore you cannot spend too muchtime per day on any one practice, whatever it may be. A true follower of Swami Sivananda can onlydo a little of all. Thus there is harmonious development, health (wholeness) of body, mind andspirit.Gurudev, while still a senior student at the medical college, was very eager that peopleshould know the art of healthy living rather than the technique of healing. The need for curativetreatment arises only when you have been foolish enough to fall ill. Why not prevent it? Soon afterleaving college, he started a magazine called “Ambrosia” and in that magazine he published everylittle hint, secret or non-secret, that he could unearth. People must be educated on how to preventthemselves from falling ill, not so much on how to find a cure. Curing is only emergency treatment.Throughout his life he was passionately devoted to making knowledge and service availableand free to as many people as possible. These two were unique passions of the Master–health andservice. He had no use at all for secrets (“I have this special exclusive remedy, come to ME.”) If hecame upon a secret theory, it had to be published the next morning. Once when someone in theashram wished to prepare a correspondence course from Swamiji’s writings, publishing one lessona month and making money from the project, Swamiji agreed. But once it was done, Swamijiimmediately put the lessons back into book form and had them published for immediatedistribution, mostly free.He was a professional doctor, who sought by every possible means to help you not to go to adoctor. Even so the practice of yoga asanas, which he enthusiastically commenced with the aid ofsome books while in Malaya, became part of this whole approach to health. His book on hatha yogacontains the fundamental essence of the basic ancient texts. The importance that hatha yoga playedin the total scheme of his teachings was how to keep yourself healthy, really healthy.How to be healthy? What does ‘health’ really mean? Health by definition meansWHOLENESS. You cannot have physical health at the expense of mental health. There is no suchthing as physical health. Health being wholeness cannot be divided into physical, mental andspiritual. A harmonious development of both body and mind was Gurudev’s speciality. Frequentlyin his writings on yoga physical culture, he comes back to mental health, spiritual well-being. If themind is completely, disorganised and neurotic, the body cannot be healthy, however many asanasyou practise, for however long, however perfectly.Yoga AsanaGurudev did not neglect his yoga asana practice even for a day. He himself only startedpractising them when he was nearly thirty. He insisted, “It is never too late to start, and there is nocondition under which the asanas should be given up; even in disease the asanas should only bemodified to suit the condition of the body.” At the best of times he did the sirasasana (headstand) forfive or ten minutes. He also did sarvangasana (shoulder stand), and to these two he added a fewmore; a little forward bending, mahamudra, paschimottanasana and halasana.2

A LITTLE OF ALLSimilarly, some mild physical exercises formed part of Gurudev’s daily routine. “Sitting onyour bed, just after you wake up you can finish these exercises in five minutes” he used to say.Sitting cross legged, he bent forward, then leaned backward, supporting the trunk with the palmsplanted on the bed, then twisted the trunk left and right. Catching hold of the toes he would roll andswing backward, making a seesaw with the back. Getting out of bed he would stand and leanforward against a wall and do some mild trunk twisting exercises. Anyone can do these, they are soeasy and the benefits are incalculable.What Gurudev loved he enthusiastically encouraged others to do. He was by no means ayoga asana specialist, yet if he talked to you about it his enthusiasm was so infectious that youwould feel, “Oh I must start right away.” While still in Malaya, Gurudev’s cook, Sri NarasimhaIyer, was also swept up by the doctor’s enthusiasm and eagerly joined him in the yoga asanas (Manyyears later he became his Sannyasin-disciple). Swami Sivananda often taught yoga postures toyoung men wherever he happened to be, on the platform of a railway station, or on the pavement.He used to call it ‘aggressive service.’ “Don’t wait till someone comes to you, pays yoursubscription and joins your class. Teach him here and now, wherever you are.” Gurudev was notfond of theories which say: ‘This is the perfection in this asana.’ His teaching was: “Do what youcan now today, to the best of your ability, sincerely, seriously, honestly–this is perfection.” If youreach out to that today and if you are regular, it is possible you might develop a little more, and alittle more. But do NOT look at somebody else, with envy or to copy.This was another unique feature of Swami Sivananda–he could really genuinely andsincerely appreciate someone who did something better than himself. There was not even a trace ofjealousy in him. It was remarkable. For instance if some great hatha yogi visited the ashram (andmany did) and this man performed some fantastic feat, Swamiji would talk about this man for yearsto come, with no reservations: “He is a yogi! He must be unique in the world!” He would openlyglorify his own disciples too.The Master was also fond of gymnastics and sports, and he loved walking. Even as a schoolstudent he was so efficient at gymnastics that his instructor often made him teach the class. In theearly years in the ashram life, he used to run around the bhajan (prayer) hall. Can you imagine thislarge man, this great world renowned Swami Sivananda, sage of the Himalayas, the Great Yogi ofIndia, etc. etc. tying up his dhoti (cloth around his waist) and jogging around a public hall? He wasnot self-conscious at all. With an old tennis racket and a ball, he also used to play with himselfagainst the wall.In summer Gurudev loved to swim. He had a bald head, and he would sit on the Gangesbank, naked except for a loin cloth, and rub his body nicely with oil. He had his own health hints andsunbathing ideas. Not only must your skin be exposed to the sun, but your tongue and teeth also. Hewould sit there, right in the open, smiling, and grinning at the sun, sticking his tongue out, bathingthem in the sunlight.Health is a vital pre-requisite for spiritual practice, and even for enjoying life or for runningyour business efficiently, but health must include the body, mind and soul. There must be emotionalbalance, and rest and diet are also important.3

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGADiet“This is right and that is wrong.” I have never heard him lay down such categoricalimperatives. You find them in his books–but there he is only relaying traditional teaching. Asregards diet he used to say: “Take sattvic food”, food that does not excite you, throw you offbalance, or disturb your equilibrium. You have to understand the principle, understand the teaching,and then see what suits you at the particular stage you are at. The Master himself took very hot,spicy, pungent food–but that was alright for him. You cannot copy him. You must discover whatsattvic food means to you; as Swamiji also used to say, “Use your common-sense.” That seems tobe difficult!With food, as with asanas, Gurudev emphasised more the psychic effects: psychic in thesense of the effect on the nervous system, the mind, and the inner psychic principle, rather thanmere physiological reaction. So one has to put all this together and imbibe the spirit–the truth beingneither “this” nor “that” but something in between.PranayamaGurudev was a great believer and exponent of pranayama. He loved it. His ideal beingintegral yoga, both exercise of the body and control of breath (and thereby the life-force) had theirplace. Pranayama floods the system with peace and bliss. It is an astonishing fact that SwamiSivananda devoted several hours of his extremely busy day to his practice.He was extremely fond of what he called ‘Sukha Purvaka’ or the ‘Simple Pranayama’ veryeasy and comfortable. In the winter he also did bhastrika: it was beautiful to watch him do this. Hedid not insist that you should hold your breath as long as possible (as the orthodox texts seem toimply) but as long as comfortable. Do you immediately notice the problem? “Inhale as long ascomfortable. Hold as long as comfortable. Exhale as long as comfortable.” Two words are equallyimportant–’long’ and ‘comfortable’. It is not as ‘short’ as comfortable–then just anything will do.No. It must be prolonged. This made Gurudev’s yoga a bit more difficult than the traditionalapproach, where a definite rule or measure is laid down to guide you.Gurudev’s pranayama involves vigilance. There must be watchfulness, seriousness,sincerity. You must set out to find your limit, but not to exceed it. There must be no violence, noforce, and no tension at all. In this way inner harmony is promoted. Yoga has to be practisedseriously but without violence, without the sprit of competition. It is a beautiful thing. This isSivananda’s yoga.Invariably he woke up before 3.00 a.m. which was well before the time he asked all thespiritual aspirants to rise. At this time he used to devote over an hour to pranayama alone, andduring an extremely busy day, he would spend at least another three hours in this practice, in severalsessions, whenever he found the time. In the last year of his life, when he was not able to do verymuch in the way of yoga asanas, he said, “At every opportunity I do pranayama; even lying down Ido pranayama and especially at night if I can’t (don’t) sleep.” If he could, he would prop himself upon some pillows and do it. This was his advice to almost everyone who met him, “If you can’t do theyoga asanas properly, just do the best that you can, but practise a lot of pranayama.” He realised that4

A LITTLE OF ALLpranayama, not merely breathing exercises, has a direct effect on the nervous system and on themind. It promotes an inner state of well-being quite different from that we conventionally callhealth.Health RedefinedIf someone hasn’t been to a doctor for the last six months, we think that is health. InGurudev’s case health meant something more. He had diabetes from the age of about thirty-five andlumbago later on and there were other problems. But his face was radiant and shining, his eyessparkling with energy and humour and his every movement full of love and wisdom. His mind, hisbrain, was supremely alert even when the body was weak. Even physically he was extremelyattractive. A robust figure, which if it had belonged to somebody else might have been ugly anduncouth, only added to his charm, added to his majesty. Even the skin was clean, clear, sparkinglywell maintained. His clothes were always spotlessly clean. Even when his body was ill, there wasthat extraordinary glow, that radiance.Once he was down with typhoid, and his body had been so weakened that on one or twooccasions we thought he would pass away. Even then, his eyes were sparkling, his face radiant. Hehad been confined to his room for about three weeks and wanted to see the sun and the Ganges.Slowly we brought him outside and he lay in his favourite chair. If you had looked at him then youwould have said that there was nothing wrong. He was beautiful to look at and he was laughing,joking, and talking to people. After about an hour or so he said, “Alright, let me go back to bed.Wait, I’ll try and get up by myself.” He planted both his feet on the floor and holding the arms of thechair tried to lift himself off ... and collapsed ... luckily, back into the chair itself. Perhaps you canvisualise the whole scene. You and I would probably have been full of gloom, despair. As he wascollapsing, he started to laugh, “Hm, my legs have lost their strength.” These were his exact words.“My legs”, not “I.”The way he reacted to the many ailments and illnesses that assailed his body can be used as arevolutionary re-definition of the whole concept of health. Health is a state of mind, a state of innerwell-being which enables you to function, to do your work, your allotted task without moaning,grumbling. Health is not the body being declared medically free from illness. Gurudev didn’t mindtaking medicines at all; on the other hand, there was a whole plate full of them after lunch. Hisphilosophy was that if you can take food for the body, you can also take some other thing calledmedicine.Never once through all his illnesses did he moan or groan and when doctors entered hisroom, it was hard for us to convince them that he was sick. Swamiji would ask, “And how is yourhealth?” Likewise when some of the ashram swamis went to see him, he was only concerned abouttheir health, and requested them to look after themselves. Who was the patient, who was the doctor?Lying in bed he used to continue his work marvellously well. He was so tremendously alert andthere was always this state of inner well-being. Sometimes the body functioned 100% sometimesonly 80% or 70% and he was prepared to adjust, prepared to take the body along with him. It lookedas though he graciously allowed some ailments to dwell in his body.5

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAOnce he remarked: “There are two or three things I need. So I’m very careful about them.”He was careful with his eyesight. His voice was also very important to him. He had a ringingbell-metal voice throughout his life and he had his own special exercises for it. He was careful withhis teeth. He said: “If you don’t have proper teeth, you can’t speak well and you can’t eat well.” Hewould adopt any measure that any doctor recommended to keep them clean. Brushing his teeth inthe morning was a big ceremony with him.Thus he protected certain organs. He did not want to be totally and completely dependent onothers. Also, he did not want to lose the instruments with which he served humanity. When later onhe couldn’t move about freely, he used a walking stick. He would give it to somebody else to carry,just in case the need arose. “Keep it with you, if I feel a bit giddy, I’ll take it from you.” The bodyshould not be helped too much as this would weaken it. Later it became a bit more difficult and hehimself used to hold the stick and walk; then, even this was not sufficient and he would holdsomebody’s hand. But the body was nor excused; what had to be done, had to be done. The Master’smind was alert, vigilant, energetic, powerful. He refused to give in to the whims of the body. Whenthe legs would hardly move on account of lumbago and rheumatism, he still insisted: “I’ll come out.I’ll work in the office”.What is that state of mind that is able to overcome physical ailments? What is that state ofmind which sees that though the body is weakening, it is still capable of some functions and those itshould be made to perform cheerfully, whole-heartedly, brilliantly? That is health.At one stage he used to spend about half an hour in my room before he went to the office.The steps next to the room were very steep, and he had to climb them to get to the office. It wasalright for some time when the body was in good health. Then when he had lumbago and could notwalk so easily, he asked for a long stick with the help of which he used to climb those stairs. Whydid he have to go that way? Nobody knew. One day he could no longer even use his stick andliterally bent down and crawled up. He could easily have said ‘I am not well, come to my room.’There was absolutely no despair, no excuses, no moaning at all; there wasn’t evenself-consciousness.That spirit, that state of mind is called health, where even an ageing body cannot dampen orweaken the inner spirit even for a moment. He had this sense of spiritual well-being at all timesthroughout his life.One might attribute some of these to what is popularly known as the kundalini shakti beingawakened. This was never discussed. From within him came an abundance of energy. It filled himand flowed from him constantly.In 1953 the Parliament of Religions was held in the ashram. Hundreds of visitors had comeand for three days the ashram was a hive of activity. The last day’s programme was prolonged bySwami Sivananda and concluded after midnight, and then Swamiji retired. One of the visitors, theSpeaker of the Indian Parliament, wanted to leave very early the next day, and had asked SwamiSivananda, “Can I have your darshan (audience), just to see you before I leave?” and Gurudev hadagreed. The Speaker called on the Master at five o’clock that morning. We could hardly keep oureyes open, but there was not a trace of fatigue on the face of Swami Sivananda. He had hardly gone6

A LITTLE OF ALLto bed two or three hours before and here he was, talking and chatting freely. That was anextraordinary feature. No matter how hard he worked, or how much he worked (and let us not forgetthat while we were only in our twenties, he was in his sixties) he always had more physical andmental energy which filled him and overflowed, filling others with enthusiasm–call it awakenedkundalini, call it self-realisation, call it anything you like.In 1950 he was sixty three when he undertook an intense two month tour of the whole ofIndia. During this period he had to address over five or six mass meetings a day. At each of thosemeetings Gurudev spoke, sang and danced as though he could give his very life to those headdressed. There were small private gatherings too and informaly visits to same institutions, andthere also Gurudev would speak and sing with the same zeal and fervour that he displayed whilstaddressing mammoth gatherings. Even if the audience consisted of only four members of a family,to him it was an opportunity to spread the Gospel of Divine Life, the glory of the Divine Name, andthe gist of all spiritual teachings. To him it was as great an opportunity as that of addressing fivemillions.To him the moment mattered more than the years to come. To the work of the moment hegave his heart and soul without reserves. While in Malaya, where for ten years he unceasingly anduntiringly served the people as a doctor, he took upon his shoulders the work of a number of hiscolleagues. He expended every ounce of his energy. He could not withhold anything because hewas enthusiasm itself. Anyone else in his position would have grown old at 38, when he renouncedthe world and started a new life!The life that awaited him in Rishikesh was in no way helpful to the restoration of the energyspent in Malaya. The meagre fare of an anchorite, food that he was not accustomed to, and theconditions of life that prevailed, far from replenishing what was lost, could only have been expectedto drain off what energy was left in him and hasten the advent of old age.But it was not so. In 1930, after seven years of rigorous austerities, when Gurudev addressedhis first audiences in U.P. and Bihar, they found in him a full-blown yogi, youthful, with ebullientvigour, his powerful voice ringing with a soul force that had conquered old age and put weakness toshame. What power Gurudev’s words had! They came from his heart, from his soul.Once after returning from a tour in 1930, Swamiji received a letter from a parent of a studentof a high school that he had addressed in Sitapur. It said that after hearing Gurudev speak their sonhad run away from home, leaving behind a note: “I am going to meet my real Father, SwamiSivananda.” Similarly, Dr. Roy joined the ashram as its medical officer soon after the All-IndiaTour in 1950, having heard Gurudev’s lecture at Chidambaram. Such was the awakening andtransforming power of Gurudev’s words.Gurudev ascribed this continuously bursting inner fountain of energy to the regular practiceof asanas, pranayama, meditation, and the repetition or the Lord’s name, but particularly topranayama. This endowed Gurudev with a phenomenal memory and a marvellous capacity to doashtavadhana (doing eight things simultaneously). Pranayama purifies the nadis (the subtle energychannels) and the nervous system, and strengthens the mind. Gurudev’s powerful brain could givedirections for work to a hundred people at the same time. Every visitor to “Ananda Kutir” (literally7

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAtranslated as the “Abode of Bliss” which was Gurudev’s room, and thus the nucleus of the nowworld-renowned Sivananda Ashram) knew that he was registered in Gurudev’s mind and that evenafter a decade, he would still be recognised should they meet again. He could remember a face for30 or 40 years even if the face had changed. If someone whom he had seen as a little girl went backafter thirty years he would remark: “You look like a little girl I saw...” and she would say, “Yes,Swamiji, that was me.”There are instances galore. During the All-India Tour, he met the then Chief Minister ofMysore, Sri K. C. Reddy at Bangalore airport, and conversed with him for a few minutes. Two yearslater Mr. Reddy came to Rishikesh and Swamiji recognised him instantly, though Mr. Reddy wasdressed differently. Sadhu Murugadas visited the ashram in 1940 and sang beautiful bhajans (songsof praise of the Lord). He visited again in 1948 and gave another wonderful programme. When hewas about to conclude Gurudev reminded him: “What about the beautiful prayer with which youconcluded last time–’asato ma sat gamaya’?” Murugadasji was surprised at Gurudev’s exceptionalmemory.There was something extraordinarily special about Gurudev; that attractiveness, thatglowing and sparkling vitality and effervescent energy. Swami Paramananda once said: “If theMaster just walked along any road, he would gather a crowd around him. It is not necessary thatthere should be any advance propaganda. Let him merely walk along a road in London, he wouldattract a whole crowd there.” Once we went to Dehra Dun, a town not far from the ashram. It waswinter then and Swamiji had a huge overcoat on, so that looking at him you wouldn’t say that hewas even a swami. As he was walking along the shopping centre, quite a crowd gathered aroundhim for no reason. They just wanted to walk with him!Why do we want all this health? Why do we even want the body to be alive? Is health soimportant in itself? Don’t forget that Gurudev was a medical doctor and as such it is inevitable thathe should have seen the futility of pampering to the body. He had no illusions concerning humanlife, no illusions concerning vitality. He knew that the physical energy supply is limited; that therecomes a time when the body ages and the energy level falls. He knew that.Once Swami Sivananda was walking up a flight of steps to go to the temple and about halfway he sat down on a step. Just then a young boy who was also living in the ashram came running,tumbling down the ‘steps. Swamiji looked at him, full of admiration. “Haah, he is full of energy. Ialso used to be like that once, but now for this body it is not possible.” He knew that.Only once have I heard him refer back to his life in Malaya with a touch of regret. He said:“If I had known then that I would be engaged later in this kind of activity which benefits not onlyone patient or one neighbourhood, but everyone in the world, I would have conserved a little moreenergy in my youth. I would have taken better care of myself and would not have spent so muchenergy in Malaya.” He knew that because the energy supply is limited, it has to be spent fruitfully,intelligently, wisely. He knew that death is inevitable however long you live. Therefore he was notfond of ‘health’ for its own sake. He would not have loved to live in that body if it was not of someservice to others. And therefore he declared once: “I live to serve. I live to serve all.” Every momentof that life, the body was whipped into service–not just cajoled, but whipped into service. It waslooked after very well, and work was extracted from it also very well.8

THE SECRET OF SELFLESS SERVICECHAPTER TWOTHE SECRET OF SELFLESS SERVICEGurudev Sivananda was such a radiant person that just to look at him was already aninspiration. I think the greatest service that he did was to make himself so easily available, soaccessible to everybody at large. This was a unique factor. In the ashram, he was the most easilyaccessible person. At least three times a day he was out in the open. He took part in the morning“classes”, the worship in the temple and from about ten a.m. he worked in the office. It was open,anybody could walk in. Children would even run in and ask, “Swamiji, what is the time now ?”–andhe answered them. People who walked along the road could feast their eyes on him, “Aah, there isSwami Sivananda!” Just that was a remarkable service, Karma Yoga.What is Karma Yoga? An American businessman had come to the ashram in 1947 for a fewdays visit. It was the custom that visitors addressed the evening satsang on their last night. TheAmerican visitor had wandered around the ashram and observed us doing various things. He said,“Some of you practise bhakti yoga, some of you practise hatha yoga, and so on. We in the UnitedStates practise karma yoga. We are all working very hard, working day and night, earning a lot ofmoney.” Later Swamiji told him, “This is not really karma yoga. Karma yoga is different.Isavasyamidam sarvam–God alone pervades all. God alone is Truth. He is omnipresent,omnipotent, omniscient. He who has this vision, he alone is a karma yogi.” Karma yoga is not someform of service which we pretend is unselfish, but karma yoga is the spontaneous action, thenon-volitional action, the non-egotistic action, the totally unselfish action of an enlightened person,in whose eyes only God exists, within and without.Karma yoga is perhaps not what a student of yoga practises, but rather how a perfected sagelives. It is not karma yoga if the action is done with any motivation whatsoever. It is not only amatter of the action being motivated by selfishness, egoism or vanity. True spontaneous action ispossible only when the mind has become totally unconditioned. As long as even the feeling persists,“I do this”, the action is still within the bounds of selfishness; there is some motive there, howevernoble it may be.We must remember however that the Master wanted all aspects of yoga to go hand in handevery day of our life. For us, karma yoga is any sort of service that involves the least selfishness.Karma yoga as a spiritual discipline is what purifies the heart of selfishness. It is prescribed as apreliminary purificatory practice before entering the inner court of contemplation and Gurudevamply demonstrated this during his life in Malaya and Swarg Ashram.In order to understand the spirit of karma yoga, one has to live with Someone who is anexemplar of this. Otherwise there is misunderstanding!For instance, Swami Sivananda has said something very beautiful in his ‘Song of a KarmaYogin’: “Scrutinise always your inner motive”. We often pretend to ourselves, “I am scrutinisingmy inner motives.” We do not ask ourselves, “But why am I doing so?” for the answer might wellbe, “In order to prove to myself that I am spiritually taller than the next man.” What is the inner9

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAmotive for scrutinising the inner motive? Are you even a little bit closer to God for doing this? Ifyou scrutinise your inner motive, motivelessly, you will be. That is what we saw in Gurudev. Butfor the example the words are lifeless.But, can you see someone else do something and ask yourself, “Oh God in that situation,would I have acted as he does?” Without justifying your defects or idolising the ideal? (Don’t makea mistake–I have the greatest devotion to the Master. I worship him in every way. In the ashramevery other day someone performed padapuja (worship) when we would wash his feet and drink thewater. All that is good and important. But you must not merely idolise him). There is the ideal–youhave seen it, you have observed it, watched it. Perhaps it is far, far above you. It is not for you tolook at as we look at a cloud, but to be imbibed just as the fruit of the cloud (the rainwater) is. Wemust enter into this perfection. Otherwise there was no need for Swami Sivananda to have livedamong us.It was not when Dr. Kuppuswamy became a renunciate that this spirit of karma yoga wasborn in him. Even as a child it was there in him. Gurudev’s elder brother’s wife who looked afterhim after his mother had died told me, “He was a normal boy, there was nothing extraordinary abouthim. He was mischievous. He was energetic, very energetic and he could also bully and fight. Butone thing–he loved to share whatever he had with others.” In later life that became more or less amantra with him. “Share whatever you have with others.” (Another characteristic that this ladymentioned was that he liked good food and it had to be prepared exactly right; if it was a little lessthan perfect, he would not have it. That was also there throughout his life). He could never eatanything hiding himself behind the cupboard. He always had to call a few friends and have a party.This party spirit was always there. He could never do anything alone, enjoy anything alone, whichextended to cover even the bliss of self-realisation. He was a compulsive giver. He had it in hisblood.Free distribution of literature was born with the medical journal ‘Ambrosia’ which hepublished as a young doctor. In Malaya Gurudev shared his knowledge of medicine, especiallypreventive methods. Also he would give away food, money and clothing. Patients were not treatedas patients but as friends. The doctor would bring them into his house if necessary, make provisionfor their convalescence so that they could receive a proper diet; give them train fares home, helpthem to find suitable jobs, and follow up their welfare personally, socially, etc. No sacrifice was toogreat for him in the service of ailing persons. Gurudev concerned himself more with the poor thanwith the rich–that the poor could not pay did not matter to him.Gurudev was charity itself. Indiscriminate and unrestrained charity. Those who attended thesraddhas in his house (sraddha is an annual ceremony in memory of one’s parents) used to receivean offering of ten dollars in addition to valuable presents in clothes, silver vessels, etc. In most otherhomes they might get two dollars. A monk who once visited the Master’s house in Johore-Bahruwas warmly welcomed and treated like a prince. When he left Gurudev gave him a hearty send offand a first class train ticket to his destination.That Gurudev lived a simple life goes without saying. A simple life is one of theprerequisites for charity and any self-sacrificing activity. If you love luxury, then neither of these ispossible. Gurudev gave and gave and gave, and he also received–obviously, you can only give out10

THE SECRET OF SELFLESS SERVICEof the cash box what it contains, not more than that. He emphasised what he described as‘spontaneous, overwhelming generosity......’ I can still hear these words ringing in my ears. Hegave and he received and in his case on both occasions he was thankful to the other person. If yougave him something, he would be delighted and when he gave you something, once again, he wasdelighted and full of gratitude–to you for having received and for having given him the opportunityto serve you. I have heard it from his lips a million times–"When there is a poor or a sick man at yourdoor whom you have the opportunity to attend to, know that it is God himself, who has come in thisform to give you an opportunity to serve. Thank the Lord for having come here?"When Mr. Narasimha Iyer 2 had joined the doctor as his cook, they had agreed upon a certainsalary, say 30-40 dollars, plus food, clothes and household expenses. On the first day of thefollowing month, Gurudev ran into the kitchen with a tray in his hands. On it were fruits, flowers,new clothes and about 50 dollars. In Indian houses, this is how they welcome and honour a guest, aholy man or a brahmin–as God. The cook was expecting his wage, and looked questioningly at thedoctor; Gurudev prostrated in front of him saying, “This is your sambhavana, Iyer......is itadequate?” The word ‘sambhavana’ has a holy connotation. It implies “an offering made withdevotion and reverence.” Gurudev would never use words like ‘pay’, ‘salary’ or ‘wages’. Helooked upon his servants as manifestations of God. This was his attitude throughout his life.Whatever he gave, including his service, was always a humble offering unto God.Compulsive SharingWhatever Gurudev had was available to anyone who was in need. When a beggar comesand stands in front of someone’s house it is usual (to our disgrace) to dispose of “garbage”. Youhave a bunch of bananas and have eaten the best ones. What is left is overripe and rotten. If a beggarcomes to your door, he gets them! You could never persuade Gurudev to do that. I saw it at leastonce: He was about to eat something and found that it had become a bit stale and someonesuggested, “Keep it, Swamiji, we can give it to the cow or the monkeys.” He replied, “No. Throw itaway. What is not fit for my consumption, is not fit for anybody’s consumption.”Here is a typical oft-recurring incident: A beggar comes to the door of the doctor (Gurudev)in Malaya. What does he expect? A few odd coins, or some scraps? There is just enough food for ameal, and the doctor is about to sit and eat when the beggar calls at the door. The cook says: “I’ll goand give him something,” but the doctor fetches him inside and the astonished beggar is made to sitdown in the kitchen and is served with food first. There is not enough food to feed three people!Together the doctor and his cook share what remains of the meal. The doctor tells the cook: “Come,you have satisfied a hungry, man, now we can share whatever remains. His satisfaction will satisfyour hunger too.” That is the spirit of karma yoga.Above all, it was feeding people that gave him the greatest delight. He was happiest when hecould persuade people to eat a little more, and therefore one of his own Twenty SpiritualInstructions was ignored by him as soon as you entered the ashram. “Eat a little, drink a little....”, he2Mr. Iyer rejoined the Master who accepted him as an ordained disciple. Much of the material concerning the Master’s life inMalaya was gathered from him.11

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAused to sing, but you could only do so when you got back home! When he gave prasad–or somefruits or sweets–he would scoop out with his huge hands and give you. And you had to eat itimmediately, right in front of him. As he watched you, it gave him endless delight. He was thrilled,thrilled to see about a hundred or two hundred people sit down and eat to their heart’s content. Idon’t think that he ever felt that this was a contradiction to his teaching. In the beginning he used tobe rather strict with regard to some observances, like fasting on Ekadasi (eleventh day of the lunarfortnight), but later even these rules were relaxed. People brought fruits and sweets into his officeand in no time the whole lot was distributed to those around him.Once this turned into a rather tricky situation. A very good devotee, a South Indian ladyfrom Bombay, had come to the ashram and had brought a very special sweet preparation that sheknew Gurudev was fond of. She was an expert in preparing this and had obviously gone to muchtrouble. She knew of the Master’s habit of distributing to others and had taken that into account, butshe was almost in tears when she saw Gurudev handing the plate around to everyone and not takingany for himself. Her heart was sinking. Gurudev turned to tell the distributor, “You must also give aportion to her,” when suddenly he noticed her expression. He “ordered” the Swami distributing it,“Stop it, stop it...... Oh Swami, wait, bring it here, the rest is for me, I’m going to eat it. Don’t give itaway.” He saw the lady’s face begin to blossom, her cheeks become rosy. “Bring it here. I’m goingto eat it.” He put one bit in his mouth and somehow again the plate went round. The joy that he hadwhen he shared, and especially food, fruit, or books, was indescribable.On another occasion–this was even worse. It was in 1948 or ‘49 when the ashram was verypoor and fruit was not only rare but expensive. If anyone entered his kutir they had to receivesomething. I had taken him some work and Gurudev asked his cook if there were any oranges. Thecook had bought some oranges exclusively for Gurudev. He had tremendous devotion to his Guruand he wasn’t going to move. In the meantime Gurudev walked into the kitchen. He could seewhere the fruits were. So he picked one up and gave it to me. Before long he had given some to themonkeys and fish as well, and one by one all the oranges were finished. Such was his compulsivegiving nature. If oranges were rare then even the fish and the monkeys should also enjoy their share!There were only about ten or twelve people in the ashram in 1944-45 and ordinarily all of usused to come to the kitchen and eat. What became the dining hall later was used more as an office inthose days. Sometimes Gurudev would come and sit on one of those cement benches and talk to us,and say: “You think it’s a small place now, but one day you’ll see. From here to Lakshman Jhulapeople will sit and eat.” It happened. We didn’t actually serve people all along the road, but if youlined up all those that ate in the ashram in 1958-59, it would have been at least one mile–easily fourto five hundred people. That vision he had.Once he had typhoid and he couldn’t even stand. He was very weak and dizzy. To go to thebathroom, he literally hung on two people’s shoulders. From the bathroom one day he was lookingout of the window at the Ganges. He asked, “Who is that sitting there?” One of us answered. “Oh itis very hot there,” Gurudev replied. “Go and tell her that she should not sit there. How long has shebeen sitting there? Perhaps she hasn’t had any lunch.” He told his cook, “Go and ask her if she haseaten, if not, ask her to come here and take something.”12

THE SECRET OF SELFLESS SERVICEThat was his sole wish! You must be fed nicely, you mustn’t suffer, you mustn’t go withoutanything. I have never seen anybody else behave like that. First food for your body and then foodfor your soul. This giving was totally indiscriminate. It had to be done. Both food and books weredistributed completely indiscriminately. Charity–giving, giving, giving, all the time–had to go on;and in that there was a vision which we can possibly not even contemplate. If we try to understand itintellectually it is reduced to a set of words.Spontaneous Overwhelming GenerosityOnce a wandering beggar come to the ashram. Swamiji enquired how he had travelled sincehe did not look at all tired. The beggar replied that he had travelled first class on the train, sincethose coaches were emptier, and in that way he was not inconveniencing the overcrowded thirdclass passengers. This beggar also happened to have a very good voice and a wonderful innatemusical talent. Gurudev asked him if he could sing. “Swamiji, I guess every beggar knows how tosing a little bit.” “Wonderful. Today we’ll have your concert during the satsang.” All the ashramitesand visitors gathered in the Bhajan Hall. For once this poor beggar was really in trouble. You havenever seen a more frightened face! He didn’t know what a satsang was; he had never given a concertin his life. He was put up on a platform, and when he saw a swami coming with a garland, he froze.He didn’t know what to do–and he didn’t know how to run away either! On top of all this Gurudevgave him a nice title, “Sangita Ratna”, which means, a music expert. It is impossible for either himor anyone else who witnessed this whole scene never to forget it.Once in a while, overwhelm the other man with your generosity; when he expects just twocents, give him a few dollars and see what happens. See that glow in the other person’s face, feel thedelight in his heart. Perhaps that is the ‘light of God.’Why don’t we practise such overwhelming generosity? There seem to be two inhibitingfactors. The first is “Well you know, if I do this once, he will expect me to do it again and again andI’ll become bankrupt in ten days.” Quite true. Swami Sivananda also didn’t do it everyday–obviously–for then he would not have been able to build even a small cottage, let alone anashram. But, once in a while do yourself a treat, two dollars is nothing to you–but when it is given toa poor man, to this beggar, all at once, when all he expects is a few cents, it creates a tremendousreaction. “Hah!” He looks at you. “My God, you have really given this to me?” Once in a while giveyourself a blissful, beautiful feeling, a heavenly pleasure.The second inhibiting factor is; “How do I know that he deserves it?” (If God started askingthat question we wouldn’t even be alive. If God asked himself: “How do I know these peopledeserve all that fresh air?”, what would be the answer?). Such a question arises only when wecontemplate some charity! What about the new dress that you bought yesterday?Gurudev had no use at all for what is called ‘discriminating charity.’ During the KumbhaMela (a festival) in 1950 there was a continuous stream of pilgrims passing along the road that wentthrough the ashram. We had set up a sort of ad-hoc office on the roadside and Gurudev used to sitthere for an hour or two giving darshan to the pilgrims. A small band of young men with a fewmusical instruments were singing. Gurudev heard it. “Call them.” Swami Paramananda called thewhole band. The Master was delighted. “Come on, sit down here and sing for an hour or so.” They13

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAdid, and sang beautifully. Gurudev took out some money, put it on a plate with some fruits andflowers and gave it to the leader of the band. Someone noticed this, and remarked, “They arehawkers, Swamiji. They are selling cigarettes. They are not devotees singing the names of God. The‘Hare Rama, Hare Krishna’ is probably only to attract the crowd”. I still remember the mischievouslook on Gurudev’s face, “Is that so? Then add some more money. Give them another ten rupees.They were singing Mahamantra, singing God’s names very beautifully. Charity is charity. Youmust give. What he does with it is not our business. That is God’s work.”Spontaneous, overwhelming, unquestioning generosity. It had no motives at all. Where youfind some need, give. And I have never heard him refer back to it. The feeling one got watching theMaster do this was–do charity in exactly the same manner in which you will drop your body, whenyou die.Trying SituationsYou can well imagine that it was a headache to the secretary, and the treasurer, and so on, ofan organisation, i.e. the ashram, to have a person like Swami Sivananda as the head. He just went ongiving, giving, giving–he did not seem to have any notion where the money came from or where itwent. But, I think he knew, though others thought he did not. He was aware all the time that thesource is also the goal. “It comes from Him and returns to Him: We are merely channels. We thinkwe are running this institution, this ashram, but we are only trustees.”At least once a year the ashram experienced a financial crisis. Gurudev would seriouslyconsider the position and say; “We will be very careful. We won’t admit any new aspirants into theashram.” Usually this only lasted a few days. Soon a poor man would walk in without even a changeof clothes asking to stay at the ashram, Swamiji would say: “Yes, yes......... better let him stay.Where else will he go? Do not worry about expenses. Every man brings his own ration with him.Before God sends him here, God has already delivered to the kitchen the food supply that he willneed.”These were not just words; if you looked into his face, into his eyes, you knew he wasspeaking the truth. In him there was no doubt at all, there was no questioning. In him this truth lived.He knew that what you and I call God’s will, alone prevailed. If we are going to be bankrupt, we willbe bankrupt in any case. There is nothing to worry about! And the secretary submits “Alright,Swamiji.” And then the flood-gates are open again–otherwise the next financial crisis wouldn’tcome so soon.Another time we had a classical tragedy. A young man joined the ashram. He was aceaseless and untiring worker, brilliant in every way. He had captured the heart of the Master.Gurudev loved him and admired him, and took him into his confidence. He had made him nearly theall-in-all. He was the post-master, he was the treasurer, he was almost the secretary too,unofficially. He was the cashier and on top of all this he was also doing some literary work forGurudev. He was such a dynamic personality, and it was only half an hour after he had left theashram one day that it was discovered that he had embezzled, heaven only knows how much! Hewas the cashier and the post-master, so nobody could really estimate to what extent the ashram had14

THE SECRET OF SELFLESS SERVICEbeen robbed. All we knew was this–there was not a single cent in the entire ashram, which washeavily in debt to local shopkeepers.So for once we started with a minus balance, and the news spread to Rishikesh. Once again,the grocers very politely told the secretary, “For some time it is better to pay cash for whatever youtake,” because the ashram owed a lot to them already. That was the worst calamity I have ever seenin the ashram’s life. And what did the Master do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He was enjoyingthe whole thing as a big joke: “How was it possible for him to cheat us like this? He was such a goodman! He must be a genius.” Two things he went on repeating. “He must have been a genius to dothis.” And, “But he did a lot of work.” He added, “We must have owed him some money–-but hecould have asked me, I’d have given him.” What is that vision, that realisation, established in whichone can say this? That is the vision of God.One more example of this. In 1946 a businessman came to the ashram from South India. Heknew that the Master was very fond of dissemination of spiritual knowledge and that the shelveswere full of books which had been printed and published by the ashram. So, he said to Swamiji, “Ican distribute and market all your books in South India. He took a large consignment. Six monthslater the secretary wrote to the address given by the businessman–the letter was returned, ”No suchaddress!" The secretary was amazed. Gurudev said, “Ohji, if you think that you are the self of theman who cheated you, you won’t be disappointed.” If God is one, omnipresent, what is stealing?Stealing is only transferring the object from the right hand to the left hand. You think that you areSwami So-and-so, and that you have an ashram, and that those books belong to the ashram, andsomeone else took them, and made a profit, and so on. This makes you angry. “If you see your ownself in that other person, not only would you not feel sorry, but you may even feel happy.” Nothingmore was said about the whole affair.“Be equanimous; balanced, even-minded in success and failure, gain and loss.” It is notgrinning and bearing it–not at all. “He who cheats me, and that which I call ‘me’, are but the twohands of the omnipresent being, who alone exists!”But sometimes, to the discomfiture of the authorities of the ashram, Gurudev could make abig joke of this whole thing. One night the ashram temple was broken into, although a number ofpeople were sleeping on the covered verandah which went around the four sides of the temple. Thesilver pot and other silver vessels were missing. The priest who had discovered the loss, reportedthe theft to the Master. But instead of getting serious, the Master was curious. “People weresleeping right there at the time when the theft was taking place?” Then he burst out laughing. “Hemust be a very clever thief. If he is found, I’ll award him a title ‘Chora Shikhamani’ (which means asuper-expert in stealing).”That was all. Gurudev made it look as if there was no theft. He who needed them took themaway. He used a very beautiful expression. He used to call it ‘Gupta Daan’–secret charity, in whichthe receiver saved you from even the trouble of giving it! He needed it–he took it.Once we decided that instead of Swami Sivananda, he should have been called SwamiGivananda–he who rejoices in giving. He knew that the supply came from the source, and to thesource it returned. Material considerations of accounting did not bother him at all. He proved in his15

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAown life that in such generosity, there was no bankruptcy. He used to say very often, “Giving hasnever made a person poor; charity has never made a person poor.” In 1924, the Master arrived inRishikesh, with only the clothes that he had on his body. In 1973, hardly fifty years later, the ashramthat he had built was worth a few million rupees, and yet he went on giving, giving, giving. Hehimself used to say, “Such an attitude puts you in direct communion with the inexhaustible sourceof all prosperity.”Gurudev’s service was the sun before which all the mists of distinctions of colour and creed,caste and sex, vanished. As a doctor in Malaya, he served all nationalities, all castes, everyone,especially the poor. Similarly in Swarg Ashram, where he lived as a mendicant, his serviceespecially of the sick was his first concern. Later, the doors of the Sivananda Ashram were everopen (and still are) to people of all castes, creeds, and nationalities–South Indian Brahmins,non-Brahmins, Christians, Europeans, Americans, Jews, Muslims, Parsees, and Buddhists were allreceived by Gurudev with equal respect and were entertained with uniform love and hospitality.Swami Sivananda never bothered about what your religious faith or belief was; he neverinterfered with all that. He never suggested that one religion was valid, and another was false, orthat one was superior to another. Once the Master was scheduled to meet a multi-millionaire, whowas a fanatical Hindu. All he wanted to hear was these few words. “The Sanatana Dharma(Hinduism) is alone the truth.” While the Master was being escorted to this meeting the secretary ofthis millionaire, dropped a few hints, that the wealthy man could be of great help in Gurudev’smission. The Master listened to him. Gurudev was gloriously received by this rich man, and aspredicted, he asked the standard question, “What do you think, Swamiji, of Islam, is it also areligion?” “Oh yes. Yes yes. Yes yes.” “The Qu’ran is also the word of God?” asked the millionaire.“Yes yes, yes yes, yes,” replied Gurudev. Gurudev returned with a plate of fruits, most of which hedistributed there itself! Swami Sivananda was not for sale! Your religion is what appeals to you.Ultimately, religion is an adventure between you and God. Gurudev was not interested in imposinghis doctrines, his belief, his faith, even his realisation on others.The Razor’s EdgeWhere service was concerned, even the distinction of sex disappeared. Once during hisearly days in Rishikesh, a young South Indian lady who was staying at the Kalikamliwala rest housefell ill. The manager there advised her to consult Gurudev, which she did. Swamiji gave her somemedicine, but since the lady was modest and shy, he gave up the idea of massaging the patient’sfeet, although he considered this more beneficial than medicine. On returning to his kutir hereflected on the matter and decided that he should not have neglected what was necessary for herwelfare. “After all the same Atman (self) that dwells in me dwells in her too. I should not haveshrunk back from this service.” Early the next morning Gurudev along with his disciple called onthe lady again and having given her the medicine, explained to her that he saw only the DivineMother of the Universe in her to allow him, her child, to massage her feet. She made a speedyrecovery.Gurudev would never tire of warning the monks against moving too closely with membersof the opposite sex, and he sternly admonished them not to spend the night in a room adjacent towhich a lady is sleeping alone–this is the code of morals. But there is a superior code, the code of16

THE SECRET OF SELFLESS SERVICEservice. Once, while at Lucknow, Gurudev discovered that the old Maharani (his hostess) wasseriously ailing with acute rhinitis and he then slept in the corner of her room, ready at hand shouldshe need someone to attend to her. Even her own family would not serve her with such solicitude.When the need arose, Gurudev was ready to do any kind of service.In Gurudev, the fear of public criticism was conspicuous by its absence. We should not bearrogant and violate the laws of society, but yet we should dare to do what we know is right. “If youare convinced that you ought to wear an overcoat in order to carry on your spiritual practicesundisturbed and to serve humanity best, and if the thought enters your mind that people maycriticise you, at once put on the overcoat! This is the way to overcome the fear of public criticism.People may criticise you, but soon they will understand you.”The question he asked himself constantly was, “What is the appropriate, the right thing to doin these circumstances?” and never, “What will people think?” The old Maharani of Singhaifrequently used to visit Rishikesh. If she walked along the road in the hot sun, Gurudev clad in thefiery robes of a sannyasin, would hold an umbrella above her head; and his fellow monks would, intheir pride of sannyasa, laugh at this bold renunciate serving the mother instead of treating her as amere householder and asking her to bow at his feet.Once Swami Sivananda went with the Maharani on a pilgrimage to Ganga Sagar (the holyconfluence of the Ganga and the Bay of Bengal). En route the pilgrims had to wade through the seafor a few yards and the old lady could not do that. Gurudev at once lent her his broad and muscularshoulders. The Maharani was reluctant, but without the least hesitation, Gurudev picked her up andcarried her to the boat. On another occasion, at the Maharani’s palace in Lucknow, a lady mendicantbecame infuriated when the Maharani declined to satisfy her inordinate demands for money toperform some kind of worship. In the frenzy of anger this mendicant lost all control and fell downunconscious. Gurudev carried her on his shoulders to the nearby hospital and had her attended to.The Maharani had a liking for soda, which she invariably took early in the morning. Her servants,often lax in their duties, might neglect to give it to her at the appointed hour; but the honoured guest,Gurudev, whom the Maharani revered as her preceptor would anticipate his disciple’s needs andwould, without her knowledge, make sure that the soda was ready waiting for her, ready at hand.However, when the Maharani planned to make Gurudev stay permanently in the palace asthe Royal Preceptor, he quietly slipped away from there and undergoing great sufferings andhardship en route, walked back to Rishikesh. He walked, without informing anyone at the palace,without even taking a blanket when it was midwinter; he suffered cold and hunger on the way but hewas determined to rescue himself from even the least touch of worldliness.In the life of this single, mighty individual, selfless service flowed along many differentchannels. He used especially to exalt the service of the sick and the poor. He had seen disease and itsconsequent suffering at very close quarters from his very youth and he intensely felt the pain thatafflicted another man. An old friend of Gurudev from Malaya visited the ashram and told us, “Wecould not recognise Swamiji’s greatness in those days. We had more or less concluded that he wasfull of unusual eccentricities.” It was the spirit in which he served, which was unique in Gurudev17

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGASivananda. He was dynamically, busy, active all day–not in order to gain anything, nor to loseanything, not out of fear, without any expectation of.........There was no ‘because’ in his case at all. So, why did he do it? How does a person who hasno ambitions, no desires, no cravings, no hopes, no expectations, function at all? We are trapped inthis idea that without some motivation, man would be idle. Swami Sivananda questioned, “Whyshould we be idle? When you do something you ask ‘Why should I do that?’, but when you don’t doit, you don’t ask yourself, ‘Why do I not do that?” When the self is seen to be non-existent, you areneither interested in doing anything nor interested in refraining from doing anything, in being lazy,idle. Idleness is useless. Idleness is just another form of vanity or egoism. When the self is seen to benon-existent, the energy and the consciousness in you (which we call God) function. This is wherethe expression ‘God’s will’ or ‘God’s grace’ is appropriate. In the life of Swami Sivananda, that isexactly what we saw.FearlessnessThere is no danger in true selfless service; rather it is the Divine Realm where the faithfulhave absolute immunity. During the early days of Gurudev’s life at Swarg Ashram he earned areputation for daring to venture into regions which anyone who valued his life would avoid from agreat distance. Cholera and typhoid cases were earmarked for him as were most contagious andinfectious diseases. When Swami Anantanandaji was suffering from cholera of a most virulenttype, and people feared to approach his hut, Gurudev was in constant attendance at the Swami’sbedside. Gurudev had absolutely no revulsion or dislike to handle the offensive discharges ofpatients. He would with his own hands clean the bedpan and wash the excreta from the patient’sbody. When Swami Anantananda was very ill, Gurudev readily and without the least hesitationinserted his own fingers into the rectum of the Swami and removed the faecal matter, withoutrevulsion, without fear. This was an assurance which was not born even of medical knowledge–"Ican wash myself in antiseptic solution." I have never seen him wash his hands in antiseptic solution.At best he used just pure water. Similarly, when Sri Veeraraghavachari’s disciple was sufferingfrom cholera, it was again Gurudev who volunteered to attend him. People were wonderstruck atGurudev’s service; and many were like Sri Kalyanandaji who, when he fell sick, would send forGurudev alone–no-one else would do. “Whatever you do with your miraculous healing hand willcure me”, he would say.Much later in 1948-49, Gurudev lived in a basement apartment and upstairs was a familyman stricken with the most virulent smallpox. The man’s skin was not visible at all. Only theeyeballs were sticking out and the rest of the body was covered with smallpox. And the Master wasstill there downstairs. Nobody could persuade him to leave that place and go somewhere else in theashram. One could see from his face that there was no anxiety at all. In the same way, when hehimself had typhoid, it did not bother him.On the psychological level too, as we have seen, he was utterly fearless–fearless first of allof public criticism. It is very important to distinguish this fearlessness from callousness or defiance.There was no defiance in him. I have seen this; if he wanted to do something and one of his owndisciples said, “No Swamiji, it should not be done like this, it should be done that way”, he wouldvery meekly and simply say, “Yes, alright, let us do it that way.” However when it came to what the18

THE SECRET OF SELFLESS SERVICEwhole of him wanted to do, he did not bother at all who said what. In the early years of this century,till he changed the fashion, it was unthinkable for a swami wearing the flaming orange robes to singand dance, even if it was the Mahamantra–Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare; HareKrishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare. A Swami was not even allowed to bow down toothers. It was Swami Sivananda who started bowing down to all. He was criticised! H.H. Sri SwamiTapovanji vividly recalled how Gurudev used to carry three little cloth bags wherever he went. Onecontained leaflets, pamphlets and notebook; one had sweets and biscuits or some fruits, and thethird had some common drugs like aspirin, dressings etc. On the roadside he would stop at ahundred places making enquiries about anchorites and villagers and he would distribute thepamphlets and give medicines to anyone who needed them. The sweets he gave to children. Whilehe was at Swarg Ashram Gurudev lived only on alms (from the almshouse) which consisted of soupand dry bread (rotti). After he had left his home in South India, someone discovered that aninsurance policy of his had matured and was valued at about five thousand rupees. If he had beenrigid he would have refused the money, but instead he used it to buy medicines, fruit and curd forthe sick and to serve the sadhus. He established the Satyasevashram Dispensary where all patients,both anchorites and laymen, received medicines, food and money if they needed them and alsosincere gratitude and Sashtang Namaskar (complete prostration) much to their embarrassment. Thepatients were treated as living divinity.Gurudev was criticised for all this by the swamis and holy men who used to say about him,“Oh, he is a house-holder swami though he wears the orange robe, because he handles money andhe publishes all this literature. A swami should walk absolutely bare-handed. He shouldn’t evencarry his own water pot–a disciple should do it.” They who had adopted this as their rule, naturallycriticised him but he was not moved nor did he react. Only weak men react. Later I myself heard thisfrom one of the critics. He was a wonderful man and he said, “We all used to criticise your guru andnow we have all joined him. He was right and we were wrong.”It is not that the Master ever wanted to prove that he was right. It was so natural–it had tohappen. He was so totally and absolutely fearless. Fearless because the false identification that ‘Iam the body’ had gone. The body is the body and the ‘I’ does not exist. What functions is the ChitShakti or the power of God. This is karma yoga. Only such a one could afford not to hate anyone,not to harbour a trace of ill-will. It was only pure love and humility embodied in this gigantic figurethat could openly face an assailant and at the same time bow down and fondly look after a littlechild.When Gurudev moved over to the present ashram locality, he again established a dispensaryand all the ashram inmates were put through a rigorous training in service of the sick. Gurudevwould “aggressively” catch hold of pilgrims returning from pilgrimages in the Himalayas and rubtheir bruised legs with turpentine liniment; he would ask another disciple to rub the other leg, thusgiving his disciples practical training in selfless service. It is this Sat-Sankalpa (holy wish) that hastaken the shape of the Sivananda Eye Hospital and the gigantic Sivananda General Hospital with allits modern equipment. When Gurudev had lumbago in 1953, we took him to a nearby militaryhospital for dio-thermy treatment for his back. He said, “What about buying a dio-thermy machine?Then all the poor people in the area can use it free.” That was his temperament.19

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAThe Refuge Of DestitutesThe three greatest hallmarks of Gurudev’s selfless service were compassion, tolerance, anda resolute determination not to see evil. His compassion did not demand any justification for givingaway food and money to old and destitute people who walked into the ashram without the least ideaof leading a life of renunciation.They approached him seeking only to be fed, clothed, and provided with shelter. “Wherewill he go? We will have to look after him.” This expression very often amazed the ashramauthorities and visitors too. Gurudev took over responsibility for maintaining a destitute who calledat his door with the simple logical reason that the destitute person had been prompted by the Lordwithin him, to seek refuge at Gurudev’s feet. How was the ashram to maintain those people? Thequestion was answered by Gurudev with equal ease, “The Lord who sends them here will providefor their maintenance also. At present the State is not looking after these aged people, so it is myduty to do so, as best as I can.”Among the destitutes were widows, whose husbands’ untimely death had left themhelpless; women who had been driven out of their homes by the ill-treatment of husbands orparents-in-law, and orphans and old people. To all of them doors of the Sivananda Ashram wereever open. To them all, Gurudev was mother and father. He never questioned them about their past,nor about their future plans; they were in need, and first that need was satisfied. Invariably, after amonth or two a ‘miracle’ would happen. They would rise in the estimation of their kith and kin, andthe wound would be healed. There was often a happy reunion of broken families. Once a destituteperson was lying outside Rama Ashram. No one even cared to look at him, but as usual, as soon as itcame to Gurudev’s notice, he had the man brought into the ashram and made everyone of thedisciples attend to the man. Often Gurudev stepped in at the most crucial psychological moment fora person and saved that person’s life. Many, who in utter despair, stood on the brink of life anddeath, and preferring death to a miserable existence here, were directed by the supreme mercy of theLord, to the divine compassionate embrace of Gurudev’s love. A miraculous transformation wouldtake place in their lives, gloom and despair yielding to peace and hope.This sort of service was rendered by Gurudev even in Malaya. Narasimha Iyer told us howyoung men, completely broken and hopeless had stumbled into the doctor’s house. They wished toend their life and their misery, and the doctor always showed them how to end the misery, and gain anew lease on life. He would look after them as he would his own brothers, pursuing their life’scareers until such time as they could take their place honourably in society.Throughout his life this service continued, and the only reason given for admitting suchpersons into the ashram was, “God has sent them to us in order that we may serve them.” Peoplewho were suffering severe shocks, whether due to the loss of beloved ones, or set-backs in theirofficial and social careers came to Gurudev for protection. They found that they were welcomed.Gurudev’s Abhaya-Hasta (the hand that guarantees fearlessness) granted them freedom from allkinds of tensions and anxieties allowing the sun of hope and joy to dawn in their lives. Suchindiscriminate protection is granted only by the Lord.20

THE SECRET OF SELFLESS SERVICEIt was this attitude that made Gurudev assert that there was no one in the world who did notdeserve his service, no one in the world who did not deserve charity. It is this feeling that wasbehind his indiscriminate service and charity–and that is the key to yoga.The SpiritAre there not in the world, individuals and institutions that render one or more, or even allthe types of services described? Perhaps there are. So, what is it that distinguished Gurudev in thisrespect? What is it that a mere social worker often misses, which if it had not been overlookedwould have raised him to the level of Godhead? It is this inner bhava (attitude) which later blossomsforth as anubhava (experience). If while being engaged in service, one reminds oneself that allhands and feet are HIS, then the service becomes a sacred duty. The rendering of the service is itselfthe greatest reward, and no result is even anticipated.That then is the secret of Gurudev’s untiring training of aspirants, even if a number of themproved false and unworthy, and of serving them even if they had behaved badly towards him. Hadyou offered him an opportunity to serve you, he would have done so without a second thought.What you might do in return to him, was not his concern. The service has already fulfilled itself.This attitude was the secret of Gurudev’s perfect detachment.Gurudev’s tolerance had no limit. If some Swami X had once done some service to theashram and then began to lead a life of comfort without doing any work, Gurudev wouldn’t ask himto work again or to leave the ashram. On such an occasion, he said: “For the work that he has done, Iam bound to look after him for five or six lives to come.” Gurudev himself was busy twenty-fourhours of the day, every day of the year–no holidays, no Sundays, nothing. Even when he was sick hewas active; active in the service of humanity, yet he would never find fault with another for notfollowing his example.See God In AllGurudev could see no evil at all anywhere, and there was nothing that he could not forgive.His power in this capacity was also tested to the very limit of human endurance. This happened onthe night of the 8th January, 1950. We did not have electricity in the Bhajan Hall in those days. Onthe altar there stood pictures of Rama and Krishna and just a wick lamp. For the readings we used ahurricane lantern and as soon as the reading part of the satsang was over, it was put away. So it wasquite dark in the satsang. The Master always sat immediately next to the door, the entrance.Once someone asked him, “Why do you sit there, why not sit somewhere a bit lessdraughty?” and he replied, “You know, I have loose bowels and I’m diabetic, and sometimes I mayhave to get up and go to the bathroom, I don’t want to disturb the whole satsang. So I sit here. Also Imight come late. I don’t want to cause any disturbance.” Never once did he actually leave thesatsang. He was never late either; usually he was the first there.On this particular day the satsang had started, the readings were over and the light was putaway. It was winter and the Master used to wrap a shawl around his head but usually he wouldremove it immediately on entering the hall. For an unknown reason he did not do so that night. A21

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAyoung man, disgruntled and probably mentally deranged, walked into the satsang with an axe in hishand. He knew where Swami Sivananda usually sat and he aimed three blows at Gurudev’s head.The first blow that came down fell on the turban. Nothing happened. There was only the sound ofsomething hitting something. So, hurriedly the assailant raised the axe again and in doing so he hitone of the pictures hanging on the wall above Gurudev. More noise was created, by which time thisman had become thoroughly nervous and even though he aimed another blow, he somehow hit theopen door, and only slightly grazed Swami Sivananda’s arm. People got up and caught hold of theman, thus discovering the whole horrible truth. All that Gurudev was interested in at this stage wasthat satsang should be continued and brought to its usual end with all the concluding prayers and soon. Some of us were working down in the office when someone rushed in and told us. Immediatelywe ran up, and then I heard the whole congregation chanting “sarvesam svasti bhavatu, sarvesamsantir bhavatu...” and I said to my companion, “Swamiji must be alright,” because only he couldhave the nerve, the calmness and the presence of mind to continue the satsang and treat the wholeincident as if nothing had happened. Gurudev was sitting there calmly repeating all the mantras!Later we discovered that this was Gurudev’s second miraculous escape of the day. Thisman, whom Gurudev maintained in the ashram out of purest compassion, without asking him foreven a scrap of his time and energy in service of the institution, had calculated another attack. Hehad been waiting for Gurudev at the turn of the road, at the time when Gurudev usually walked upfor the morning meditation. The Master always walked alone. But that morning was the onemorning that he missed the meditation and he was unhappy about it. When he came to the officelater he said, “Today I slept so heavily...... I don’t know what happened–I just overslept.” Only laterwe discovered that if he had come, probably he would have lost his life, as this man had beenwaiting. Having missed that chance he came to the hall in another attempt.After the incident, this man had been taken to a room near the present printing press.Gurudev went there and stood before the assailant, folded his palms and said, “Are you angry withme? Are you satisfied? Do you want to give me some more blows?” It was a beautiful scene. Whatlove! The next morning the police inspector said, “We are going to charge him.” Swamiji replied,“No. There is no charge. He has done nothing; only my karma has been worked out. Why should hebe punished for that?” The police wanted to take proper action. So Swamiji eventually agreed thatthe man be sent back to his home town in South India. The morning of his departure Swamijihimself went down to the police station with a plate on which he had put a flower garland, fruits,clothing, books and money for the train fare and pocket expenses. He garlanded this man, fed him,and worshipped him, falling at the assailant’s feet in prostration. None but Gurudev could havedone this. Then he said, “God Himself came in that form for His own reasons. God comes to you notonly as your benefactor, as a beggar, as a sick person, but God comes to you even as your murderer.Even that person is none but God.” He still continued to walk to the bhajan hall in the dark. He stilltook his regular evening walk all alone. This is called faith. It is easy to see God in one who hasmurdered your enemy, but if you are able to see God in one who has come to kill you, then you havegone beyond all division.Gurudev said, “Honour those who have bad characters. Serve the rogue first. Treat him as afuture saint, or as a saint himself; this is the way to purify your heart and to elevate him also.” In oneof his earliest letters to Swami Paramanandaji (1934-35) he wrote, “I want around me a number ofpeople who will abuse me, insult me, vilify and injure me. I want to serve them, educate them and22

THE SECRET OF SELFLESS SERVICEtransform them.” In a crowd he would seek out the bad characters first, whether they be in white orochre robes and greet them with folded palms. He would address them in the most respectful terms.Gurudev said, “Acclaim the rogue as a saint; publicly honour him and he will be ashamed tocontinue his evil doings. Persistently tell an ill-tempered man, ‘You are an embodiment of peace’and he will be ashamed to lose his temper. Call a lazy man a dynamic worker and he will plungehimself into service. But the praise must come from the very bottom of your heart and you mustpour your soul force into every word, sincerely feeling that behind the apparent negative quality,there is a resplendent positive virtue latent, waiting only to be established. If you do this both of youwill be benefited.”If this spirit of karma yoga is awakened within our hearts, then our every action mustnecessarily reflect this attitude. In the Master’s case one could see that he felt the presence of God,not only in shrines, temples, in holy people and holy places, but even in plants, in animals, and alsoin inanimate objects. The way he closed his fountain pen was a delight to watch. He would placeit–not drop it–on the table. It was beautiful. It was an art. There was a delicacy about it. When hepicked up a shawl and wrapped it around himself, there was beauty. The art was there, because theheart was behind. Even when Gurudev was bedridden and someone gave him a parcel, though hecouldn’t reach the floor, you could see how much he would strain not to drop it. I don’t think he everbroke anything. Only once a monkey picked up his fountain pen and took it away and latersomebody gave it a banana–it dropped the pen. Otherwise I don’t remember an accident everhappening to the things that he used. People; especially foreign visitors, often used to give himthings, then he would give the old ones to somebody else. Nothing ever went out of order. Even inthese things he could feel the presence of God.It is not that in order to practise karma yoga you must go and seek out some poor people todo charity, or find the sick (or even make them sick) to render them some service. For SwamiSivananda, everything was sacred. All the Objects in the world were sacred. The Master did notconfine karma yoga to special departments. He was definite and emphatic, “Unselfish, motivelessaction is possible wherever one may be, whatever one’s lifestyle or profession. The right spiritdemands–do your allotted duty or work, without any motivation whatsoever and your actions willbe peaceful, blissful and fruitful.”Training Of DisciplesIn the Master’s ashram in Rishikesh, swamis themselves were engaged in every kind ofactivity you can think of. Once Gurudev himself said, “Not only do I work hard, I know how toextract work from others.” It is a beautiful expression. How did he do this? Sometimes he wouldlean back in his chair and put his spectacles up; sometimes he would close one eye and look justlook. And then he would smile. What was there in that voice, in those few words, in that mere look?And something in that face, something in those eyes was bewitching. He conquered by love.Gurudev was extremely patient with sloppy work, with inefficiency, mistakes. These he didnot mind at all. There was virtually nothing he would not put up with, except, he used to say,laziness. How does one make another person work? The first answer is that you must set anexample. Swami Sivananda was himself the best example.23

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAThere was another method which he adopted. If you were lazy, first you would get from theMaster some fruit, and milk and coffee, and some other gifts. Whenever you went near SwamiSivananda, he would greet you and praise your good qualities. This was an indirect way ofsuggesting, “You are such a wonderful man, why don’t you do something about it ?” Sometimesyou take the hint, and at others you say, “I am meditating six hours a day,” and he would respondeagerly, “Very good, you must meditate, do some kirtan and bhajan.” You think he is encouragingyou to do that and you become even more lazy. Even the fruit and the coffee do not inspire you,stimulate you. Then in your presence he starts talking about somebody else; “What a dynamic manhe is. Everybody ought to be like that.” This applies to you, but you already have an image of sittingand meditating for six hours and so do not heed it. If all this does not work, he might say, “For achange, get up and do something.” He could come down like a thunderbolt for a few minutes andthen he would be milk and honey again. If even that failed, when there was a financial crisis the firstones to go were the lazy people. Laziness, he would not tolerate. Even when he had typhoid andtherefore he was extremely weak, he often enquired about lazy people in the ashram. “We shouldnot entertain lazy people here.” He himself was never lazy. The body was looked after very well,and then it was made to work hard. Why do you want to drop a healthy body in the grave for theworms to consume? Squeeze it; extract the last ounce of “juice” from it before you throw it away.Gurudev was more than father and mother for the aspirants in the ashram. If someonemanifested the least trace of a hidden talent, he would almost dedicate himself to awakening it,cultivating its unfoldment to the fullest manifestation. Gurudev would incessantly contemplateways and means to do this. Each must express himself fully for the benefit of mankind. One youngman who said he knew the technique of paper manufacturing walked into the ashram. The nextmorning Gurudev asked for the pit to be dug, and raw materials were ordered. Gurudev encouragedthis man to experiment with his ideas, though he had absolutely no credentials and Gurudev neverasked for any.A good musician joined the ashram and the very next day a new harmonium and tabla wereordered for him. Gurudev himself would take such a keen interest in all these enterprises, that youwould think that he had been waiting just for you to come along and help him in this work. Such washis enthusiasm that in a short while, he would be giving the adept in his field, hints for improving hiswork.Swami Saradananda joined the ashram in 1947. When Gurudev found that he had anaptitude for photography, immediately a photographic department was formed, and Gurudev wasall encouragement. Eventually, it was one of the best equipped studios in the country. One mustremember that all this took place at the foot of the Himalayas, not in a technologically advancedmetropolis.Another interesting event occurred when a cook, who had not come to stay at the ashram,was encouraged by Gurudev to open a restaurant and carry on a business for his own profit.Gurudev’s attitude was: “First make him stay here, and then slowly convert him to spiritualpractice.”24

THE SECRET OF SELFLESS SERVICEAll ashram departments were run by the swamis themselves. The swamis did all thecorrespondence and maintained accounts. These activities were not shunned as “worldly”activities.Gurudev was not ashamed to do whatever had to bo done. In the early days of the ashram,Swamiji used to conduct yoga camps for a week during the Christmas and also the Easter holidays.Visitors used to come from all over India, as well as from abroad. Some of them were magistrates,police officials, advocates, business people, but in the ashram they were treated as spiritualaspirants. One morning the Master would announce, “Today is karma yoga. Come on, we are allscavengers–today we shall clean the roads.” And there were no distinctions at all, the Master wasthere first. When you set out to clean the roadside in some of the villages in India you may findanything–cow dung, dead rats etc. Now comes the problem: the professional road-sweeper has hisbroom with which he shoves all the dirt away, but we may not do that. That is not the right spirit atall, because even in that cow dung there is the divine presence. When Gurudev carried that drippingbasket of cow dung on his head, it was not as though he was carrying cow dung at all, it was the Lordwho was seated on his head. And everyone had to do this, such was the training; special training nodoubt, but here we were taught that it is not what you do that matters so much as the inner spirit.Sometimes we would be asked to work in the kitchen, peeling potatoes and cuttingvegetables, and he used to insist that during all this we keep repeating God’s name, and sometimeswe would all sing together, “Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama...” and go on doing the job, andthe chant or whatever it was, would keep reminding us that it is God that does it, and unto God it isdone. The subject is God, and the object is also God, and therefore the action in itself becomesdivine.One day we were all working in the office, right in front of the Master. Some of us weretyping, some writing, some doing the accounts. He had a very lovely way of indicating when hewanted to say something funny. He wore spectacles, he would put them up on to his forehead andclose one eye and look. He had his elbow on the table looking at us. There was this radiant and halfmischievous smile when he said: “Were you not doing this kind of work in Delhi also?” “Yes,Swamiji.” “So what is the great purpose in coming here? You go to an ashram, a holy place lookingfor moksha, for liberation, and there you do exactly the same thing that you did before in thegovernment service. Why do you have to come here at all? Isn’t it possible for each one, remainingin his own station in life to practise karma yoga?”All of us were silent. Then he himself provided the answer. “It is here that the spirit isawakened.” It is very difficult, while you are still engaged in the battle of life, when you areconfused, to cultivate the right spirit. Only if you live at the feet of a master can you discover thisspirit. When you return to the world, it is still the same world, but you are not the same, andtherefore the world is not the same either. You have a new vision. To train you in this, was the roleof Gurudev’s ashram.The real, sincere, thirsting aspirant was Gurudev’s God. He lived for such aspirants. Theonly comparison one can draw to this is the relation between a father and an only son, born to himlate in life, and on whom the father lavishes all his love, and for whose welfare he considers nosacrifice too great.25

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGANot only in the field of work but in the field of spiritual practice also, Gurudev created theatmosphere necessary for each aspirant to evolve in accordance with his own individualtemperament and aptitude. Never was an aspirant compelled to change his mode of spiritualpractice. If you liked to study Vedanta, he would provide you with all the comforts andconveniences necessary so that in seclusion you could study and evolve. He would never ask you todo any work and he would openly praise your wisdom and make you a Professor of the YogaVedanta Forest Academy. Similarly with earnest aspirants pursuing other modes of spiritualpractice.Gurudev worked ceaselessly so that the most fortunate aspirants who had taken shelter at hisholy feet could be saved from experiencing the difficulties that he himself had had to face during theearly days of his life at Rishikesh. He would go to any length to save them from wasting preciousmental energy in anxiety over the ordinary creature comforts of the body–food, clothing, shelterand medical care–so that they might be free to pursue the path they had chalked out for themselves.No one in the ashram had greater physical disability than Gurudev himself, and yet there was no onewho worked harder than he did. The moment he found an aspirant not well, even if it was only amild headache, he would say, “Please go and rest”, and depute a doctor and half a dozen others toattend to him. However when he himself was ailing, he would sternly brush aside the doctor’s pleathat he should rest the body a little. This was one aspect in which there was a vast differencebetween Gurudev’s precept and practice. He practised self-sacrificing service which cared not forcomforts, but to others he preached “Please take care of your health.” His love for the sincerespiritual aspirant was incomprehensible.In 1946, we were fairly poor and did not have many rooms, nor did we have manyconveniences and comforts. We didn’t even have secure protection against the monkeys that usedto invade the ashram. There was a very small room, which we called the office, with a couple ofrickety doors and adjacent to this was a room with a low ceiling and a low entrance. Gurudev usedto call this the ‘humility entrance.’ Unless yon bent down you would lose your head–which is trueof life also. Between these two rooms was an interconnecting door. One midsummer’s midday, itwas hot, so we had closed the door of the office, as well as the interconnecting door and were in asmall adjacent room. When the Master had his lunch, he would always ask for another plate and hewould take a portion of whatever he ate and put it on that plate. After finishing his lunch, withoutresting, he would take that plate in his hand, cover his bald head with a thin piece of cloth, and walkaround from room to room, giving each of his disciples a little of that food. In those days, this initself was an extraordinary thing, because many of the swamis wouldn’t let their disciples, oranyone else, even see what they ate! Gurudev was an exception to the rule. Whatever I eat, whateverI have, you must also have, you must also share"–that was the spirit. So about 1 o’clock in thescorching sun, he came walking to the office, plate in hand. Seeing all the doors closed, hepresumed that we were sleeping. He went into the kitchen which was just next door, and found aswami there. Gurudev gave him two or three cups of something or other and told him, “Those threeboys are resting, please do not disturb them, but when they wake up, give this to them.” A couple ofminutes later, one of us laughed and the swami in the kitchen, hearing it, came in with three cupssaying, “Swamiji came and gave these for you. He thought that you were resting.” That wasGurudev’s spirit; throughout his life he was more considerate of others than he was of himself.Perhaps this is one of the reasons why his body was so riddled with illnesses–the body just could nottake it.26

THE SECRET OF SELFLESS SERVICEWhen you lived with such a person, it was difficult even to watch him. You had to haveeagle-like vision to see through all these masks and to perceive the real Master and his teachings.How does one study the teachings of such a great Master who had this perfectly symmetrical dualrelationship with his students? No doubt he wanted to teach, to train his disciples, but he loved themso much that the teachings were heavily sugar-coated, so that quite often we just sucked off thesugar and threw the pills away. You had to have great persistence to suck through all that sweetnessand then come to the (maybe bitter) pill. Both sides of this relationship were equally powerful: hiseagerness to teach his disciples being matched only by his love for them. The desire to teach sprangfrom the love, and the love sprang from the desire to teach.When he did something, you had to look into his face, look into his eyes, and there you sawsomething quite different from what we are used to. When he gave you something, when he didsomething for you, in that face there was no pride, there was no look of arrogance, no suggestion ofsmug self-satisfaction.In that face, in those eyes, there was humility, there was love, and what was even moreimportant, there was gratitude.When it came to teaching, the Master had a delightfully beautiful and intelligent method. Hesaid: “You cannot attack the commander-in-chief, but you can tackle the army. Selfishness is not asingle soldier who comes to attack you, but he comes with a retinue, a big force. If you are sincere,and careful, you can easily detect one or other of the members of this army. Greed, lust, anger, fear,the pursuit of pleasure, desire, hatred, jealousy, ambition, the desire to dominate and the desire forpower, position and wealth, all these spring from selfishness–deal with them.”How does one deal with even the retinue? How do you know what desire means, whatcraving means, what jealousy means? How do you deal with them? It is here that the guru becomesvaluable. It was in Gurudev’s training of his disciples that we saw the best way in which to deal withinner evil, evil habits, evil thoughts and emotions and vicious nature. It is only when it comes to themaster-disciple relationship that these can be easily overcome.The greatest service that a saint can render to humanity, is to leave behind him many imagesof himself. Gurudev was like the Philosopher’s Stone and with a magnetic force he attracted allmetal to himself and transformed it into pure gold. He had the knack of turning stones into preciousgems.Not all people who sought the shelter of Gurudev’s lotus feet were good spiritual aspirants.Many were the products of modern civilisation, who before they could renounce the world, hadalready been stung and injected with its insidious poison. Furthermore, not everyone could shedthese evils on the road to Rishikesh. What was Gurudev’s reaction to them?He was the Sun of Supreme Good, before which no shadow of evil existed. He saw only thegood in the new aspirants; to the evil, he was blind. This purest form of love would never condemn aperson, could never even be hard on someone who might manifest an unfortunate evil trait.27

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAWhen a disciple’s misdemeanour was reported to him, unless he saw it with his own eyes,he refused to believe the complaint. If you pointed out that so-and-so had some evil qualities he hada counter-list of his own–that person’s many good qualities. First he refused to recognise it.Secondly, for the next few days Gurudev would shower his love and affection on this person. If thecomplaint still persisted, it meant there was some truth in it. He would send a great beam of loveflowing from him to you and only when he was sure that he had you in his grip, that your heart hadbeen completely conquered, completely won over, only then would he gently drop a hint. Verygently. Remember, he would not even drop his fountain pen. So even this hint was not allowed tohurt you, because if criticism hurts, it is counter-productive. You are merely going to rebel against itand turn away. He would never allow that to happen. For the sake of the good that surely everyonehas in him, Gurudev would give a long rope to the evil, thus gaining one more brother to thespiritual family.To him, there was no wicked man on this earth who did not have his own good points. Nonewas incorrigible. In his vision the eternal sinner did not exist. Seeing God and godlinesseverywhere, this vision and the supreme dynamism in him transmitted his own soul force whichinstantly awakened the dormant good in all and strengthened virtue where it already existed. Eventhe beneficiary was often unaware of this. It was in his attitude towards the spiritual aspirants thatGurudev manifested the highest degree of adaptability. No sacrifice was too great in this work ofmoulding men into saints.If it was a mere surface defect, like a bad eating habit, the seeker would soon get over it inthe spiritual atmosphere. Lest the aspirant should be tempted away by other minor weaknesses orlove of luxury, Gurudev would himself provide these, thus immediately preventing the greatdownfall, with the conviction that sooner or later the aspirant would overcome the weakness andabandon the luxury. Even if it was deep-seated enough to prevent him from rising very high inspiritual practice, he would work as an instrument in Gurudev’s divine hands and that work wouldelevate thousands of others. This was the magic of Gurudev. The very person whom the worldscoffed at was taken up by Gurudev and transformed into a very useful citizen. The magic wandwas–concentrate all your attention on the good and magnify it. There is only gain for everybodyconcerned in this. To spurn a man for the evil that you may see in him was a terrible loss. Gurudevnever did that. He would get very good work out of even the devil.Gurudev often illustrated this by an example. “If you are walking near a thorny bush andsuddenly there is a gust of wind and the shawl you are wearing round your shoulders gets caught inthe bush, you can’t just drag it. If you do, your shawl will be torn. You have to stop your movement,and very gently disengage each one of those thorns. Such patience is necessary if one is to deal withone’s own evil nature.” It was Gurudev who gave us wonderful, actual and almost dailydemonstration of this attitude. If you had lived with Gurudev for a couple of years, you would havebeen astounded at the way in which he trained aspirants.The first class disciples resorted to his lotus feet in the way in which aspirants resorted to theGuru in the days of yore, with the blazing fire of renunciation, dispassion and discrimination. Theymight become established in God-realisation by a mere glance from Gurudev’s eyes, or by a mereword from his holy lips. They were few. The vast majority with whom Gurudev worked werelukewarm aspirants, who might scale great heights in spiritual experience after receiving some28

THE SECRET OF SELFLESS SERVICEtraining imparted by him. But even the worst aspirants were soon transformed by his limitlessforgiveness, inexhaustible patience, boundless charity and supreme love. Adhikari-bheda (theclassification of aspirants according to their fitness) may govern the rapidity of their evolution tosainthood, but is was certainly not a criterion that Gurudev applied. He himself had (most) often tosow the seeds of vairagya (dispassion) in them. It is perhaps easier for you to infuse vairagya intoyour own son, than for Gurudev to do so in a young man joining the Ashram. Gurudev’s heart wasall love, and not even for the sake of securing moksha (liberation) for him would he give theaspirants the least offence, put him to the least deprivation, or ask him to lead an austere life.I have myself heard Gurudev overestimate the difficulties that face the aspirant and say,“What a mysterious thing this mind is! How to control it? And then, over and above all this, how isman to apply himself to strenuous spiritual practice and deep meditation? I think God should giveliberation to all, even if they utter His Name only once a day, or if a man does even a few good actsof service in his lifetime.” If Gurudev had been appointed in the realm of Gods to preside over thedestinies of mankind, he would have (in the words of Winston Churchill) actually “presided overthe liquidation of the empire” of maya (ignorance or the illusive power of the Lord) and grantedliberation to everyone.If there was a misunderstanding or quarrel between two aspirants, Gurudev would oftenpacify both, but sometimes one or the other might wish to leave the Ashram. Gurudev would doanything to prevent an aspirant straying away from the path, or retracing his steps. There was nooffence or sin which he would not pardon. He would often tell the aspirants: “It is extremelydifficult to acquire a little bit of sadhana-wealth and very easy to lose it again. It is like bouncing aball up the stairs with great effort–the moment you neglect it even for a few seconds, it bouncesback to ground level immediately.”An aspirant might yield to the sage’s sculpturing of his personality; indeed he was then trulyblessed. Or, he might manifest his weakness and even rebel against his own benefactor. Gurudev’sforebearance was often severely tested. Falsely imagining that he was a saint even at birth, a foolishaspirant would resent the chisel with which Gurudev tried to create a form out of the ungainly massthat the aspirant was. A beloved son might anger his father by such behaviour, but Gurudev wouldmerely suspend the chiselling and shower his love upon the ignorant man, allowing him time tocome to his senses. The young man might even go away from the protective shelter of the Masterand strangely enough, the very Master who took the greatest interest in shaping the aspirant, wouldthen look on apparently unconcerned as the misguided aspirant, yielding to egoism, anger or greed,shattered in a moment the beautiful edifice, constructed with years of patient and perseveringlabour. Gurudev seemed to immediately forget all about it–but no. It was then that Gurudevperformed the greatest miracle. Before he coolly gave the aspirant leave to go, he wouldunobtrusively spread over him the invisible armour of his blessings that one day surely would bringthe aspirant back. Where else in this world could he get such a Master? Where else in the wholeuniverse would a Master serve thus? Where else in the world would a guru obey the will of thedisciple? The cool shade of Gurudev’s benign presence had obviously lost its glory for him onaccount of over-familiarity. There was a need for the aspirant to learn a few more lessons, a need forhim to walk a few more paces in the scorching heat, on the burning sands of the world, before hecould truly appreciate the oasis, nay the paradise, that was the lotus feet of the Lord. He wouldreturn.29

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAA swami who was senior to all of us, though he was not very old, had left the Ashram aftersome trouble. After a few years, he returned around Durga Puja time, 1948. The Master was sittingon the roadside and I happened to pass near. He called me and said; “You know Swami ....... hascome?” He closed one eye, “He is a big man! There’s a long story .... ” He didn’t want to tell thestory nor to perpetuate the scandal. I said: “Yes Swamiji, I’ve heard about it.” Now, immediately,suddenly and dramatically he changed. He said, “But that was before; he might have been a badman before. Probably he has changed now. A wicked man can become a good man.” Then headded: “Let’s give him another chance; I’ve asked him to stay.”People often use the expression: ‘Forgive and forget’, but this is more easily said than done.Gurudev used the one and only foolproof method: Judge not. Suspend all judgment whatsoever. Ifhe does something which you don’t approve of, take appropriate action then. but realise that hehimself is not a wicked person.On another occasion he mentioned the two-way traffic. He was writing a book called‘Ashrams and Saints in India.’ In it he had to give a brief biography of a holy man who subsequentlygot married–not a commendable thing for a swami to do. Gurudev remarked: “He was a great manbut he fell into disgrace. But good people become bad and bad people become good. One should notjudge.” The biography was included in the book. Once you see that this two way traffic is possible,then you are vigilant, constantly vigilant. I have never heard Gurudev mock at such people, even injest.When such an aspirant returned to the Ashram, Gurudev would treat him as though he hadalways been part of it and had never left. Yes, and so it was in reality, for wherever he might havebeen, he was always in Gurudev’s heart. Swamiji would dance with joy and glorify him in thepresence of all, for this man was living proof of the victory gained by Gurudev’s supreme love. Theaspirant too, would then be in a better position to appreciate Gurudev’s indescribable glory, and toopen himself with greater receptivity to his grace. These disciples of Gurudev are the inestimableassets of humanity.Gurudev held out a fair hope even to wicked men and sinners. He, who was the incarnationof love, understood that the wicked man, being full of evil impressions, finds it almost impossible totake even the first step towards the divine.Lord! you do not even wait for us to take refuge in you. You attract us by your sweet songsand your inspiring lectures, your loving conversation and inimitable humour. With amusingpictures and films, delicious prasad (sweet-meats offered to the Lord), good food and life full ofcomforts and free of care, you literally drag us to You. You demand nothing from us and you give,give, always. You understand our difficulties, and sympathise with our frailties, leading us by thehand. You infuse devotion into us, You inspire us with dispassion. You breathe wisdom into oursouls. Lo, one day the world finds that your disciples are wise and talented, but little does it realisewhat infinite pains you have taken upon yourself to perform this miracle. To you, the GoodShepherd, it was not pain. You took real delight in running after the lost sheep. Lead us Lord, leadus to Thy Lotus Feet.30

SEE GOD IN ALLCHAPTER THREESEE GOD IN ALLWhat is bhakti yoga? The word ‘bhakti’ is taken to mean devotion to God, love of God orsurrender to God. One of the Master’s favourite expression was “See God in every face, see God inall. Serve God in all.” Gurudev, this God incarnate in human form, who descended to this earth inorder to fulfil His promise to take birth over and over again, to subdue wickedness, protect virtueand uphold dharma, gave us precious and practical instructions. For our sake, in order that we mightwatch, admire and emulate, the divine in human garb undertook spiritual disciplines. To him,narayanabhava was swabhava. (The attitude that the Lord indwells all beings was his innate nature).He was therefore best qualified to teach us how to cultivate this narayana-bhava (feeling of God’somnipresence) and how to sustain it.Mantra RepetitionIf you had met the Master personally, you might have come away with the impression,depending upon when you approached him, that he was tremendously and overly fond of peoplerepeating a mantra, repeating God’s name. This is true. This was one of his fortes no doubt. Everyday, people young and old would come to the Ashram in Rishikesh and ask a very simple question:“I want to practise yoga; I want to lead a spiritual life. What must I do first?” and instead of beatingabout the bush with splendid theories about God, and about self and non-self, the Master used tosay, “Repeat Ram Nam, repeat God’s name.” These people who came asking to be his discipleswere of varying temperaments and belonged to different religions. But the answer was always thesame; “I’ll give you a mantra. Repeat it day and night.” And this answer was very soon followed upwith, “What would you like, tea or coffee?” No further questioning or discussion was encouraged.“What is God? What is your conception of God?” The Master avoided all these speculativeexpressions.What would happen if someone, a scholar, descended on the scene and asked a highlymetaphysical, philosophical question? Once, in 1947, a brilliant man appeared at our office at 8a.m. and asked Swami Sivananda to explain the difference between savikalpa samadhi andnirvikalpa samadhi. The three of us who were working in the office looked up expectantly, thoughwe would never have dared to ask this question. Swamiji, who had been doing some work, suddenlyput his pen down and looked at the visitor. There was total silence for a couple of minutes and thenthe Master asked, “Ohji, what would you like to have–some milk, tea, coffee?” When the Masterasks a question you have to give the answer first, before he answers your question. So this professorreplied, ‘I think I’ll have some coffee, Swamiji." “And some fruit, some idli?” (idli is a South Indianbreakfast dish). “Yes, Swamiji,” the man replied. The Master asked a disciple to get all these. ThenGurudev asked another man, “Bring me some books for the doctor.” About ten minutes passed inthis way. In the meantime coffee and breakfast arrived. Gurudev went on instructing attendant onhow to serve the professor. In the meantime, his wife had been looking for him. He had come to theoffice alone. A few minutes later she walked in, gave him one stern look and said, “How long areyou going to stay here? Get up! Let us go.” Meekly the professor got up and left. After he had gonethe Master burst out laughing. He laughed and laughed with his whole abdomen trembling, and31

SEE GOD IN ALLmentally prostrate to her, feeling that she is an embodiment of the Divine Mother Tripurasundari.This constitutes my Sri Vidya upasana.”The Master was also fond of repeating a few chosen mantras while standing in the Gangeswater. He was certain that this was productive of the quickest mantra-siddhi (perfection in thepractice of mantra-japa). To the busiest man in the ashram, Gurudev often said, “Even if you cannotfind time to do one rosary of japa, when you take your Ganges-bath, stand in the Ganges water for afew seconds and repeat the mantra three times–this is equal to three million repetitions.”Mantra-writing was also greatly eulogised by Gurudev as a spiritual practice that wouldenable the aspirant to achieve concentration of mind very easily. Once he told us. “Always keepwith you wherever you go, a pocket note-book for mantra-writing, a rosary and a pocket Gita.Whenever you have a little leisure, instead of building castles in the air, or allowing the mind toremain idle, write a few mantras in the note-book, silently roll a few beads, or read a few verses ofthe Gita. This is the best way to acquire perfect control of the mind.”Besides this he gave us quite a number of other ways in which the likhita japa(mantra-writing) can be woven into our daily life. For instance, begin every note you write with themantra “Om Namo Narayanaya”. You and the recipient of the letter or note will be benefited bythis. Also if you write any article, your daily account, etc., start with a line or two of mantra-writingthus:OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OMOM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OM OMReligious FreedomIt is good to remind ourselves at this point that technically the Master was a non-dualVedantin. He belonged to what is known as the advaita cult. Perhaps this doesn’t mean very muchto you. Belief in a God is not an essential part of the advaitins’ doctrine. The non-dual doctrineimplies the total absence of all duality. There is a distinction between monotheism and monism.The Master’s official cult was monism, not monotheism. Monotheism still has some sort of dualitybuilt into it. It implies the unity of Godhead–God is one, so that “we” are all still outside that.Monism says, “There is only ONE”, and it is only because you are standing in front of me that I sayso, otherwise I shouldn’t even do that. So it is true to say, as did the monists, that God is not in anidol, or in a temple, in the sense that he is not confined to that form. BUT God, being omnipresent, iseverywhere.When this doctrine is heard, the obvious question that arises in the mind is, “Then why doyou want to worship a God in a temple, in a church, in a synagogue, why don’t you worship Godeverywhere?” But when you look at this paper, you see it as paper, not as God! For the mind hasbeen so conditioned and it is not able to drop this conditioning. You seem to be trapped. So that inpractice Gurudev had a rather interesting and remarkable theory which was reflected in his owndaily life. He didn’t ridicule the views of people belonging to other sects who were opposed tomonism and who declare that “God and man are eternally separate, and it is ridiculous to say thatman can ever become one with God”.35

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAParadoxically the Master was both a bhakta (devotee) and a jnani (sage). He did not say thathe was a bhakta and would therefore not study Vedanta or meditate. No, he preferred the integralyoga approach–not merely this, not merely that, for the simple reason again that the mind is capableof playing all these tricks. Both the bhakta and the monist, by each denying an aspect of yoga, arecaught in the same ego illusion.The Master never criticized either attitude. That was his genius. He tried to include all this,knowing that at a particular stage, to a person of that temperament, all this is essential. He knew thatall these are steps that lead to the same goal. He knew that if once in that idol worship you recognizeor touch the core, you are bound to realize that that which you worship there in that image is here in‘you’ too. As it is said in the Upanihsad, “That which shines in the sun, is also that which shines inme.” The genius of the Master was in the blending of these, what superficially appear to be,conflicting doctrines.In Rishikesh, when he first came there, there were these two completely opposite camps.One which said, “Forget all your Vedanta, your enquiry and meditation. To have a vision of God isthe highest goal. For this you must worship an idol.” The other camp called them idolaters, menwho were unfit for meditation and who did not understand the sublime philosophy of theUpanishads.It was given to the Master to bring one group up and the others down a little, and this wasdone in a very beautiful and subtle way. I have seen the Master deal with all these people; neveronce did he challenge anyone. If someone said, “God is in this idol,” immediately he would agreeand add “Come on, build a small shrine for your image. Worship there.” Then someone else camealong and declared : “I don’t believe in all this, Swamiji. I can raise my consciousness to the seventhplane.” And the Master never argued with him, never. He was prepared to understand and did notcondemn even the fanatic, because this person sees something and is just not mature enough to seethat it is not the whole picture. He must be allowed to come to maturity in his own time. So, oftenGurudev bowed down to satisfy even the fanatics.In the ashram temple there used to be puja three times a day–morning, noon and evening.Swami Sivananda who lived on the Ganges bank at the foot of the hill would climb all the way up tobe there three times a day. This was when his health was still good. But a younger swami who wasliving nearer the temple would not attend the worship. What was Gurudev’s attitude? As soon as thearati was over and the prasad (food offering which was also our breakfast in those days) was aboutto be distributed, he would call one of us, “Take some prasad to Swami So-and-so.” But that is notthe end of the story. That swami is not in the ashram now, he has since set up an ashram of his own,and I believe that there, puja and chanting of mantras goes on 24 hours of the day and that he insiststhat his devotees worship some form of God or other in a small private shrine in their rooms. If thatis not the miracle of the ‘prasad’, I don’t know what else it is. That maturity must happen withinyourself. Gurudev did not even fight with fanatics. If you fight with a fanatic, you become anotherfanatic.This was a marvellous aspect of the Master’s teachings. He was eager to listen to everyone;even to someone holding a diametrically opposite view. You pursue your own path, you have yourown philosophy of life. You don’t have to abandon your religion, your method of worship and36

SEE GOD IN ALLmeditation, or your mode of life. The others may also have something interesting to say. Studyothers’ points of view and develop friendliness, affection and understanding. One of our Master’smost famous sayings was, “Break down the barriers that separate man from man.” He repeated thishundreds of times, whenever he spoke, and it is ringing in my ears even today. As long as there is afeeling that you are completely and totally different from me, either because I am a Hindu and youare a Christian, or because I am an Indian and you are a European, or for any other reason, thedanger of hatred and destruction is also there. Swami Sivananda said, “Realize that you are a humanbeing, What your religion is, is your personal affair.”One scholarly and very devout orthodox Muslim used to come to the ashram. As anorthodox Muslim he would not do certain things, and certain other things he would do. Gurudevinstructed his disciples thus, “He will be doing namaz (Muslim prayer) now, so please don’t disturbhim. He doesn’t like this, don’t give it to him. He likes that, let him have it. Keep a prayer mat in hisroom.” He had great respect for the other person’s religious practices.This is an important point to remember, Gurudev had faith in all these, but he himselfpracticed what he wanted to practice. He adopted his own mode of life, undisturbed by what otherssaid. It is not possible for one to practice many different faiths. All roads lead not to Rome, but to‘roaming’.Know that there are many roads, and if possible get acquainted with them, but continue totread your own path to the centre.True CatholicIn India, even amongst Hindus, there were in those days a few major cults, as there are inother religions. One day Gurudev received a visitor to the ashram, who was the head of the Sivacult, which meant that he should not adore Rama, Krishna or Vishnu, only Siva. This Swami hadwritten to Gurudev explaining that he was going on a pilgrimage to the Himalayas and would like tostay at the ashram for a few days. Gurudev had replied, “Most welcome.” The day before this holyman arrived, Gurudev called us all and said, “As from tomorrow for three days, only Lord Siva’spicture must be kept on the altar, and don’t sing ‘Sri Ram Jaya Ram, Jaya Jaya Ram’, but only thenames of Ganesha and Siva. And don’t read the Gita or the Vishnu Puranam, only scripturesrelating to Siva, everything Siva”.Does it sound hypocritical to you? The Master was not a hypocrite. He was the purest crystalthat reflected “the other” without the least conflict. “This Swami is devoted to Siva, as I am to thetruth that God dwells in all.” Gurudev’s attitude was not, “He is as devoted to Siva as I’m devoted toKrishna or Christ”. That might breed conflict. But it was, “I feel that all religions are one, allreligions are equally valid, equally great, equally sharers of truth.” Whoever came to the ashramgave us an opportunity to serve him and an opportunity to hear him–however fanatical he might be.One type of fanatic cannot cure another. Why offend the other person, why even provoke him? Theprinciple is to deal with people at their human level. It is possible that each religion represents apartial view–there is no perfect total view. If you look out of the window, you see the sky. It is notthe total sky, it is only a small portion of sky. Nobody in the world has seen the total sky, the wholespace, nor the whole truth, nor God. You can never have a vision of the whole–that is God. But,37

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAwhat you are seeing is the sky, let us not forget that. You are not seeing the total sky, but you are stillseeing the “sky”.Can you regard religion as your own extremely private encounter with God, your personalspiritual adventure, and in relation to others in society, remain a human being? Swami Sivananda’sextraordinary genius taught us what it was, not merely to tolerate, but to understand one another.What is understanding? Respect–"I respect your views even if you don’t respect mine"–that is thebeauty. Gurudev also used to say, “Even he who denies God, affirms the existence of God, becausethe very self of the denier is God. That substratum for the intelligence that says, ‘God does notexist’, is God”. In the evolution of that person, maybe this is a necessary step.The Master never challenged anyone, never forced anyone to go against his ownconscience. Never. In the ashram his own disciples held widely divergent doctrines and views butthey were all loved and respected by Gurudev. To me, this seems to be the essence, the cream of therealization that God is omnipresent. Not the word, not the concept, but the realization of theomnipresence of God. This realization lived as Swami Sivananda.Another remarkable incident nearly shook everyone out of their wits. In 1953, SwamiSivananda organized what was known as the Parliament of Religions. A number of learned scholarsbelonging to different faiths had been invited, and there were other people who had come merely toparticipate in the function. Obviously this was an occasion when the congregation was not made upentirely of disciples and devotees of Swami Sivananda, and the mood of the audience was a bitdifficult to gauge. Because it was a cosmopolitan crowd, the proceedings were conducted mostly inEnglish except for one or two swamis who could not speak English (they spoke Hindi or Tamil orsome other language).On the second day, one swami who was sitting on the platform passed a note to one of theorganizers, “I want time to speak.” The organizer said “No, there is no time.” Gurudev, who wasalso seated on the platform, watched this through the corner of his eye. The note was passed to him.Gurudev said, “Let him speak. I won’t speak today, let him speak.” What did this man do? He stoodup and grabbed the microphone so that no one could snatch it from him and for ten minutes spewedforth nothing but criticism and abuse of Swami Sivananda. Nothing else. He went on, “He is livingin North India, where the language is Hindi, yet he writes in English, speaks in English.” This wasmeant to be a parliament of religions, not a parliament of languages, but this man was totallyunconcerned with all that. He had come merely with the intention of attacking the Master in public.You should have seen Gurudev’s radiant smile. He kept saying “Very good, very good”, (in Hindiof course). You could see the steam coming out of other people’s ears, their brains were boiling, butGurudev was quite calm, as if to say, “That is your opinion, your view, your path–go on”. He did noteven want to try to justify himself in this man’s eyes or convince this man that because there was aworld-wide circulation of Gurudev’s books he had to write in English. That was our Master’swonderful attitude and therefore again, it was extremely difficult to pierce through all these veilsand come face to face with his real nature.It does not make any sense at all to give up being a Christian, or a Hindu or a Muslim. Whatfor? What are you going to be instead? Will you practice a new religion, a universalist religion?What is a universalist? The Universa ‘list’ has a list all of his own, in which there is condemnation38

SEE GOD IN ALLof every other religion. This is a waste of time. Be what you are. Gurudev tells you, “Seek Godwherever possible. See God in all.”Worship Of God In An ImageBut what exactly was the Master’s own practice? Right from his Swarg Ashram days, whenhe was a mendicant ascetic, till the last moment of his physical life, he was not only a believer, but afirm practitioner of what you would call idol worship. Sometimes he used a picture of Siva but mostoften he used the picture of Lord Krishna with the flute in hand. It is a beautiful picture and onceGurudev himself referred to it saying, “The artist who painted it must have had a vision of Krishna.It is highly inspiring.” This picture was kept in his own puja (worship) room all the time, and therewas not a single day when his body could move from the bed, that the ritualistic worship of thatpicture was neglected. Every day, as soon as he had had his bath, he would go and offer a flower atthe feet of Krishna, take a lamp and do arati. He once said that he did not know very many mantras,but whatever few he knew, he used in the worship.This is how we saw the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita embodied in Gurudev’s own life.There is a verse in this scripture whose meaning is as follows: ‘Whatever my devotee offers to mewith love, even if it is only a leaf, a flower or a little water, all that I accept with great relish’. Andhere was this holy man, this sage, who when he had some charity to perform, or some fruit or somemoney or clothes to give to his own disciples would repeat the first two words of this verse, “patrampushpam” (leaf or flower) indicating “I am the devotee, you are my God, and I am offering this, justa little nothing–patram pushpam. Please accept it.” Such worship can be performed to an image(murthi-puja) or to the Lord seated in one’s heart (manasic puja) or to the omnipresent being(para-puja) who dwells in all beings.Gurudev did not neglect any of these. The whole world was to him the manifestation of theLord and he lived every minute of his life in this consciousness. Greeting the sun in the morning, hewould offer mental worship to it repeating “Om suryaya namah”, (the mantra for propitiating theSun God)and mentally offer dhupa, deepa, naivedya, and archana (incense, lights, food-offeringand offering of flowers) in the order in which they would come to his heart. Sitting on the bank ofthe Ganges, gazing at the sparkling divine water, he would offer mental worship to the river withmilk, flowers etc.On no account would the Master take his afternoon meal without first offering formal andceremonial worship to the Lord at the small shrine in his own cottage. In only this one item of hisdaily routine, did Gurudev claim and insist upon privacy–perhaps only to illustrate his own preceptthat you should pray to Him in secret for the sake of obtaining His Grace and not ring the bells andsound the gong in order to attract public attention and earn appreciation for your “marvellousdevotion”. He attached no value whatsoever to ostentation. Only once did one of Gurudev’spersonal attendants by chance witness the moving spectacle of the Master lying down on the groundin full prostration before the deity. There was nothing mechanical in this worship or prostration. Itwas symbolic of total self surrender, in his case the symbolism was real and whole-hearted.To Gurudev, the deity whom he worshipped, either mentally or physically, was more realthan the things that are solid realities to us. For some time I used to do the puja, the worship, in the39

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAashram’s Vishvanath Temple and Gurudev used to come quite often to participate. When he offeredsome bael leaves and looked at the little bull (Nandi) and the Siva lingam there, it was clear thatGurudev did not treat them as statues at all. When he looked at the beautiful Krishna there, theexpression on his face was much the same as that on ours when we meet and greet a life-longbeloved friend. You could see it in his eyes. It was a beautiful thing to watch. Indescribable.If you can commune with what may be called an ‘idol’ like this, already there is atransformation within. If once you learn to cognise what it is to be in the presence of God, to cognisethe divine in some name and in some form, you can go out and recognise “Thee in all these namesand forms.” This vision of God, as it expands, does not restrict itself to what the mind labels as‘good’. Whatever Gurudev did in his life, was related to this expanding consciousness.As long as you have a body treat it as an instrument in the hands of God. As long as you havethe ‘I-am’ consciousness, recognise God in all, serve and love God in every being, and at the sametime try to discover His omnipresence. This is the magic and mystery of what is known as ‘idolworship’.Bhakti is expansion of consciousness, expansion of vision, expansion of the heart. Youbegin by seeing God somewhere, perhaps in a temple, an image, perhaps in a saint or holy man, orperhaps in some natural phenomena, and gradually, step by step, the vision is allowed to expand andexpand, continuously and unceasingly until all division is abolished, until even the artificialdistinction between ‘good’ and ‘evil’ is lost. It is then that one attains cosmic consciousness.On no account would the Master let us confine our devotional practices to the shrine only.Worship in a shrine is no doubt the necessary initial training ground but the aim of this (which heconstantly hammered into our hearts) was to treat the entire universe as Vishva Brindavan (abode ofLord Krishna) and every being in it as Lord Vasudeva Himself–VASUDEVAH SARVAM.Worship Of The OmnipresentThere were a number of other ways in which Gurudev performed this worship of the cosmicbeing. We have already discussed how he treated service of the sick itself as worship of the Lord.At his insistence special varieties of worship were instituted at the ashram; like the worshipof the virgins during Navaratri and worship of scavengers on Gandhi’s birthday. On the sacredGuru Purnima day (when worship is offered and homage paid to the great-grand-preceptor, SriVyasa, who commenced writing the Brahma Sutras on that day). On these and many other holydays at the ashram Gurudev would keep plenty of flowers ready with him. As devotees poured intohis abode or office he himself would worship them.On the days when worship was offered to his own feet by some ardent disciple, Gurudevwould himself go round, flowers in hand, individually worshipping all the devotees who hadworshipped him. Only those who intently observed the mood reflected on his face and theexpression of devotion in his eyes, would realise that to Gurudev every devotee standing before himwas a veritable manifestation of God.40

SEE GOD IN ALLOnce on Sivaratri (a day sacred to Lord Siva) we were engaged in the all-night worship ofLord Siva, which consists of pujas (worship) performed four times during the night every threehours. On the temple verandah continuous chanting of the holy five-syllabled formula of Lord Siva(Om Namah Sivaya) was being conducted by Gurudev himself. After the last session, flowers wereoffered to the Lord, and the devotees filed into the sanctum sanctorum, devoutly placing the sacredbael leaves on the Siva lingam (the symbol or idol of Lord Siva). Some threw the bael leaves on thelingam: some half sleepily allowed the leaves to slip from their hands. A few pious devoteesperformed this ceremony as a religious duty; to them the Siva lingam was but a stone whichsomehow represented God–they did not know how. Last of all came Gurudev, bael leaves in hand.His radiant face shone with an extraordinary light. He let a few leaves drop at the foot of the holybull, Nandi–very softly, sweetly and devoutly seeking his permission to worship the Lord. WhenGurudev gazed at the lingam, before offering the bael leaves, he neither prayed nor recited hymns,nor did he repeat the Lord’s name aloud but his eyes spoke to the lingam. For him it was a livingpresence; such tenderness, such gentleness, characterised every movement. Right then, in thetwinkling of an eye, and unnoticed by anyone else, he turned around and worshipped theworshippers with the flowers. ‘God is not only there, he is everywhere’. Gurudev worshipped theLord in all, worshipped the cosmic form.Vibhuti YogaGurudev was the greatest and perhaps the only recent exemplar of the Vibhuti yoga (theyoga dealing with the glories and the manifestations of the Lord) as described in the 10th Chapter ofthe Bhagavad Gita. Those who heard his inspiring lectures either during his epochal All-India Touror on important occasions at the ashram itself, could not have failed to notice how the Master laidthe greatest emphasis on this practice. He exalted it, putting it on a par with raja, bhakti, karma andjnana yoga. It is a dynamic jnana-bhakti yoga. To the list of vibhutis (glories or manifestations)given by Lord Krishna in the Gita, Gurudev added quite a few of his own. He sang the Song ofVibhuti Yoga:soham soham sivoham sohamom om om om om om om om omI am neither mind nor body, immortal self I amI am witness of three states, I am knowledge absoluteI am fragrance in jassamine, beauty in flowersI am coolness in the ice, flavour in coffee.I am greenness in the leaf, hue in the rainbow,I am taste bud in the tongue, essence in orange.I am mind of all minds, prana of all pranas,I am soul of all souls, self of all selves.I am atman in all beings, apple of all eyes,I am sun of all suns, light of all lights, etc. etc.,IamthatIam,IamthatIamIamthatIam,IamthatIam.This is obviously what the Lord meant in the Gita, where He only indicates the line ofapproach to this practice, and Himself admits that He has not exhausted the list of his vibhutis.41

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAHow did Gurudev practise vibhuti yoga? Everything reminded him of the manifestation ofGod. When he came out of his room and saw the Ganga, he would remember Krishna saying, “I amGanga among rivers”, and while gazing at the Himalayas, “Among the immovables, I am theHimalayas”. The sun, the moon, the stars, the peepul tree, intelligent people, and even robustwrestlers, boxers and gymnasts, are manifestations of God. When you look at their strength, yourealise it is something divine. Often it looked as if Gurudev favoured wealthy people, but to theMaster this man’s affluence was just another vibhuti of God, that prosperity, that brilliance of hisintellect is divine. Lord Krishna said, “I am the brilliance of the brilliant”. It needs some training tosee, not the human physical personality, but rather the spark–the light–a manifestation of the divine.Even things which normally ‘feed the senses’ appeared in a different light to him. Deliciousfood not only tickled the nerves of his palate, but reminded him of God who is the deliciousness inall dishes. Music, rather than drawing his consciousness outwards and disturbing his mind, helpedto preserve his sahaja avastha (the natural and continuous superconscious state). He saw only thepower of the Lord in all these. The silence in the forest was no longer frightening; it was themanifestation of the Lord. Thus in everything the loving beloved Lord was seen and realised. ThisContinuous awareness of the presence of God is sahaja avastha.This practice is not as easy as it might appear at first sight. The mind is a creature of likesand dislikes–clinging to or shying away from objects. The senses have been accustomed to regardthe objects as food and sources of pleasure and run riot at the least chance. These have no place inthe practice of vibhuti yoga, the practice of the presence of God, where the ruling characteristic isone continuous unbroken love for all beings, for the Lord who dwells in all beings.To get the spiritual aspirant established in this habit of seeing God in all, Gurudev taught,“First see God in all the special manifestations of divinity. Look up. See the vast infinite blue sky.Doesn’t this remind you of God? Look at the resplendent sun and contemplate the self-luminousself. Gaze at the holy waters of the Ganga and see the Lord. Mentally prostrate to thesemanifestations. Gradually the vision will expand to behold the Lord in even asses and donkeys.Root out the idea of evil from your mind. When you see someone whom your mind regards as awicked person, mentally repeat, ‘God is the gambling in the cheat’ (dyutam chalayatamasmi). SeeGod in him and all contempt will vanish at once. You will neither hate nor dread the dacoit, for theLord himself is the chief among them–’taskaranam pataye namah’. In course of time you will befirmly rooted in the practice of the omnipresence of God. To aid and intensify this practice,Gurudev asked the aspirant to select some good mantra, verse or formula to use in conjunction withthe object seen. For example:(1) akasavat sarvagata nitya (Brahman is all-pervading and eternal like the sky).(2) pusannekarse yama surya prajapatya vyuhar-asmin samuha tejo yatte rupamkalyanatamam, tat te pasyami yosavasau purusas-sohamasmi (Upanishad) (O Sun, ournourisher, the sole traveller of the Heavens, controller of all. O Surya, son of Prajapati, Ibehold thy glorious form. I am He; the Purusha within thee).42

SEE GOD IN ALL(3) jyotisamapi tat jyotih tamasah paramucyate jnanam jneyam jnanagamyam, hridisarvasya visitam (Gita) (That, the light of all lights, is said to be beyond darkness;knowledge, the knowable, the goal of knowledge, seated in the hearts of all).Closely related to this practice of vibhuti yoga, is namaskara yoga–the yoga of humbleprostrations. A practitioner of this yoga, without entertaining the idea of high and low, invariablyoffers humble prostration to all beings, even to asses, trees and seemingly inanimate things etc., andthereby succeeds in effacing his inordinate and unbending ego, the little self, to obtain serenity ofmind and purity of heart–the two prerequisites for any higher attainment in spiritual practice.This valuable practice had been totally neglected, especially by monks and the greatparamahamsa sannyasins of Rishikesh, until Gurudev made it an integral part of his spiritualpractice. Having clothed their unwillingness to bend with the high philosophical question, “Who isto prostrate to whom?”, they discovered a missing link in their practice and learnt from Gurudevthat in the absence of wisdom, the vanity stemming from spiritual practice, philosophical thinking,dispassion for and renunciation of worldly objects, is a more powerful factor to contend with thanthe vanity born of wealth, birth and education etc. Namaskara yoga done with the correct attitude isone of the best ways of keeping this subtle vanity away. In his own disciples, Gurudev constantlystrove to instil this natural humility. The Master treated all his disciples as though they were gods.He would not even send for his disciples (even when he was over sixty) if he had something to askor tell them, or some work to be done, but would himself go from room to room and the expressionon his face was indescribable, as if he was saying, “You are my Master, you are my God.”Swami Paramanandaji, Gurudev’s first disciple, recalled this very beautiful incident thathappened to him very early in his contact with the Master, in Swarg Ashram in the 1930’s. Thisyoung man–he was not a swami then and still very young–came to the Master, seeking to becomehis disciple and Swami Sivananda asked him, “Do you know how to behave towards a swami, howto greet one?” He himself provided the answer: “Stand there, this is how one does it,” and he fell flaton the floor, prostrate at the boy’s feet.Visitors to the Ashram and those whom Gurudev contacted during his tours, recall thatwhenever they met the Master, it was he who first bowed down and touched their feet. Often theywould only later be able to touch his, but this never made the slightest difference to the Master. Hewent on with his practice and eventually the contagion spread to others who also came tounderstand that nothing that enables one to cultivate real humility should be neglected. I am notsuggesting that just because he bowed down or fell at somebody’s feet that that is humility. No, youhad to look into his face and into his eyes, to see that he was not seeing ‘you’ at all. With theprostration Gurudev would invariably repeat, “Om namo Narayanaya” (salutations to the SupremeLord) signifying that he was not bowing to the physical being of that person in order to curry favourbut to the Lord who is manifest in all beings in the universe. A beautiful peace and radiance was onhis face. Afterwards he might talk and joke with you, but when he greeted you it was if he wasstanding in front of God Himself. It mattered little therefore to him whether the person was arenowned monk, venerable anchorite, pious householder, devil’s disciple or habitual criminal;everyone received his salutation–even people far below him in age. Age belongs to the unreal bodyand not to the eternal Narayana hidden in it. This salutation was not an empty show, but one whichsprang from the core of Gurudev’s heart, from the direct realisation of the all-prevading oneness of43

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAGod, and it was coupled with a genuine veneration of all. This humility I have not seen in any otherperson on earth.This walking divinity and world preceptor would always use the respectful plural mode ofaddress for anyone, even a child; “Aap” in Hindi. “neengal” in Tamil. Not one harsh word or insultcould ever escape his lips, not even in a dream. He never spoke to people as human personalities butregarded everyone as God.Gurudev’s disciples therefore had to undergo this unenviable experience daily. Not onlywould the Master fold his palms and reverently bow to the disciple, but he would repeat thedisciple’s name in the same manner in which the Lord’s name is repeated. Here is the sacredformula with which he greeted his disciples as he emerged from his abode in the morning to go tothe office:“Haro hara, tat-twam-asi, om shanti, banami khuda mubarak, namah sivaya, namonarayanaya, namo bhagavate vasudevaya, namo bhagavate ...... (using the name of the particulardisciple), namo bhagavati ganga rani, hari om tat sat.”We have heard of preceptors extracting service from their disciples and lovingly imposinghardships and enforcing stern discipline upon them in order that they might evolve. They taughttheir disciples using the rod if need be, admonishing them at every turn. One of the traditionalinterpretations of the guru is, ‘one who grabs you by the hand and leads you to God-realisation: towhom you dedicate tan, man, dhan, (lit... body, mind and wealth)’. You hand over to the gurueverything that you possess and after such surrender he imparts to you the knowledge of the truth.Gurudev was unique because, first of all he did not expect his disciples to surrenderthemselves to him. He gave them complete and total freedom because he pointed out that youshould in yourself, of yourself and for your own self, free yourself from the self and the world atlarge. He served his disciples, and willingly imposed hardships upon himself in order that theymight have all the facilities necessary for their practice and spiritual evolution. He would neverdream of enforcing any kind of discipline on his disciples. The only method by which he taught wasEXAMPLE, and this without even directing the disciple’s attention to that example. Daily, hewould go on demonstrating the tenets of divine life, so that one day, someday, the disciple mightlearn–to be humble, to bow down to all, to see God in all.Devotional SingingSankirtan is the devotional singing of the Lord’s names. Sankirtan and Gurudev are almostsynonymous terms. Sankirtan was revived through him and in this, as in several aspects of his lifeand mission, Gurudev represented a synthesis of the foremost saints of recent times. Like GaurangaMahaprabhu, he danced and sang the Mahamantra (the greatest mantra for this age of Kali whicheasily bestows liberation on those who resort to it) on countless platforms throughout India. Themantra is:Hare Rama, Hare Rama: Rama Rama, Hare HareHare Krishna, Hare Krishna: Krishna Krishna Hare Hare.44

SEE GOD IN ALLWith Sri Chaitanya, Gurudev shared erudition in the scriptures and a firm grounding inVedanta which meant that his sankirtan was born of wisdom and not of mere blind sentiment. LikeMirabai he sang songs full of devotion, and like Kabir he composed lyrics full of the spirit ofdispassion and wisdom.In fact Gurudev’s whole mission started with sankirtan conferences which he presided overin Punjab. He had a good singing voice and musical talent, so that through his sankirtan, he was ableto inspire and transform the lives of many, and convert atheists into devotees.He loved to sing and dance. The Master’s was an imposing and marvellous figure whetherhe was dancing or not and it was delightful, beautiful, inspiring to watch him dance, singing;“Chidanand, Chidanand, Chidananda Hum.” It seems this was what he had set himself to do in thebeginning, in the early thirties. He had written in a letter to Swami Paramananda, “This is what wemust do–sing kirtan and through sankirtan alone, we should conquer, change and bring about aspiritual revolution in India and the world.”The whole mission started by his allowing himself to be associated with societiesestablished to promote such singing and dancing and other such devotional practices. But then verysoon he discovered that where a devotional society got established the society predominated moreand more and devotion grew less and less. He thought it was dangerous. He also discovered thatmere chanting developed into emotionalism. This would not do. So, the Divine Life Society wasformed, where sankirtan was integrated with all the other forms of yoga.His philosophically inspiring songs contain the very essence of his teachings, and arecouched in the language which has enabled them to travel throughout the world. Here is one ofthem:“sunaja sunaja sunaja Krishnatu-gita-wala jnana sunaja Krishna–Serve. Love. Give. Purify. Meditate. Realise.Be good, do good, be kind, be compassionate.Enquire ‘who am I’ know the self and be free.Adapt. Adjust. Accommodate.Bear insult. Bear injury. (This is) highest sadhana.Be honest, be sincere, be truthful.Be patient, be obedient, be tolerant.Be gentle, be humble, be noble,Be bold, be pure, be wise, be virtuous.Be still, quiet, know thy self.Purification, concentration, reflection, meditation.Illumination, identification, absorption, salvation.These are the eight stages to self-realisationInspiration, illumination, revelation.Ecstasy, rapture, vision of truthThese are the signs of spiritual progress.Find the knower, find the hearer, find the taster.45

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGA(Find the seer) (find the smeller)You’re not this body, not this mind, immortal self you are.Devotion, dedication and discipline,service, sacrifice, sublimation.Simplify, purify, intensify.Simplify your life and purify your heart,Intensify your sadhana and meditationIntensify your vairagya (dispassion) and mumukshutva (yearning for liberation)Satsang, santosh and shanti (peace, contentment and company of truth)Seclusion, silence and sat-vichar (pure thinking)Re-integrate, rejuvenate, renovate,Co-operate, collaborate, co-ordinate.D.I.N., D.I.N., D.I.N.,Do it now, do it now, do it now.T.I.N., T.I.N., T.I.N.,Try it now, try it now, try it now.K.I.V., K.I.V., K.I.V.,Keep in view, keep in view, keep in view.Nishta, bhav, mahabhav, prem (grades of relationship with God)Seek, find, enter and rest,Enquire, discover and recover.This is the way, this is the truth, this is life divine.The Mahamantra was of course Gurudev’s favourite.Hare Rama, Hare Rama; Rama, Rama, Hare Hare.Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna; Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare.It is a divine boon to the people of this age and the Master left no stone unturned to enshrineit in the heart of every aspirant. In fact, he was so fond of this Mahamantra that he instituted thecontinuous chanting of this great mantra at the ashram on the 3rd December 1943, and this chant hasbeen going on there continuously day and night, generating an all-powerful spiritual current,invisibly helping all aspirants in their spiritual endeavour. Gurudev encouraged all organisers ofconferences and other functions and celebrations of importance to arrange for the continuouschanting of this mantra to synchronise with the event, and assured them success in their endeavour.A remarkable characteristic of the Master’s songs is that they are non-dualistic at base. Theyvividly portray his ultimate realisation of godhead and his catholic understanding that the Lord isthought of and worshipped in an infinite variety of ways by people of various temperaments andspiritual equipment. Though the mahamantra is more or less a common feature at the Ashramgatherings, Gurudev had his own special songs for invoking various deities each day of the week.The Sun God on Sunday, Lord Siva on Monday, Divine Mother and Lord Subramanya on Tuesday,Lord Krishna on Wednesday, Guru (preceptor) on Thursday, Divine Mother on Friday andHanuman on Saturday. During the festivals Gurudev would always sing songs in honour of theparticular deity adored, such as Durga, Lakshmi, and Sarasvati during Navaratri; Lord Siva onSivaratri, Lord Rama on Sri Ramanavami and Lord Krishna on Janmashtami days.46

SEE GOD IN ALLGurudev’s love of all religions was amply portrayed by his songs on Jesus, Allah, Zoroasterand Buddha. These were sung on all important occasions in the Ashram and also whenever theprayer meeting was attended by people belonging to various religions.Again, by his own example, the Master showed aspirants how to sing hymns for the sake ofthe Lord, and not for showing off. He had no use for much noise and instrumental accompaniment,neither did he set much store by the frenzied singing of the Lord’s names, which is often followedby a state of nervous exhaustion, frequently mistaken for the superconscious state. He said, “Singthe hymns sweetly, melodiously and softly, always feeling that the Lord, seated in your heart, islistening. Such singing will lead you to superconsciousness (samadhi).”SatsangaAnother vital spiritual practice that the Master emphasised was satsanga. Sat means truth,God, reality, or that which exists. Sanga means keeping company, association, sitting together.Satsanga also means getting inspiration from a holy man. It is not so easy to be inspired by a holyman. How do you even recognise a holy man unless you are also holy? It is for this reason that thereis so much insistence on self-purification. Purify yourself, prepare yourself and equip yourself withthe proper insight, then of course you will recognise the truth, you will recognise holiness whereverit is found.What is holiness, what is truth, what is God? You cannot measure the degree of holiness ineveryone that you meet. You must keep the company of holiness, the company of truth. Satsanga isthat company in which your mind, your thoughts and your inner being draws closer to truth, closerto God. One who enjoys this satsanga finds that within him something is awakened. Satsangamerely reminds you of something that has somehow been overlaid with the ashes and the dust anddirt of modern living. In satsanga an inner glowing and blossoming is experienced, as the ashes thathave piled up on this inner truth are blown away.Two of the greatest oriental scriptures exalt satsanga in just this fashion–the Bhagavatamand the Yoga-Vasishta. The Bhagavatam–the Book of God (which is comparable to the HolyBible), tells us that it is in satsanga that we are reminded of the glory of God and of the evanescenceof life.The Master explained why such frequent reminders are so important. He used to say,“Maya, or illusion, the illusory power of God, the power that deludes and confuses the mind cannotbe described. It is as indescribable as God. However it is possible to point out what this Maya iscapable of doing. For instance there is what is known as ”smashana vairagya" (dispassion whicharises during a funeral. There you are reminded that you too will die, perhaps tomorrow, so youresolve that from today you will be good. The resolution does not even last until you get home. Thatillusive power which makes you forget your resolve as fast as that, is called Maya. Gurudevdeclared that it was satsanga that sustains wisdom and saves us from such delusion.The Yoga Vasishta also mentions that there are four gate-keepers to the mansion of truth,and one of them is satsanga. It says: “Keep company with satsanga and he will let you in veryeasily”.47

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAThe Master was so very fond of this satsanga that we had it every night in the ashram, sevendays a week, every week of the year, without one day being missed. The number of people whoattended did not matter. Sometimes there were three, sometimes thirty, sometimes threehundred–who was there and who was not there was also not important. The personalities were notimportant at all, but rather it was the spirit in which we get together that mattered.Even though over the years the satsanga underwent quite a lot of change, still the basicstructure was preserved. Gurudev began at one stage to celebrate events like Christmas, NewYear’s Eve, his own birthday and some auspicious holy day in the Hindu calendar, as part of thesatsanga. On New Year’s Eve the satsanga lasted until quarter past twelve, when the Master wouldlook at his watch, “The New Year is rung in–OM. Hari Rama ......... ” Easter was also celebrated aswell as some of the holy festivals of all religions in the world. The Durga puja was celebrated on avery grand scale every year. The Master was not at all averse to rituals; on the contrary he lovedthem. Sometimes dramas or plays were enacted. All these were incorporated into the basicframework of the satsanga, which remained unchanged.In 1924 when the Master entered his little town called Rishikesh at the foot of theHimalayas, he had only just become a swami and was still a mendicant and almost unknown. Hewas about forty and as such fairly junior to the other great holy men in Swarg Ashram. But as a boldand practical idealist, Gurudev discovered even then that Satsanga was the fan to keep alive the fireof God-love in the spiritual aspirant’s heart. Gurudev’s work then was to bring all these holy mentogether in satsanga. Previously they had all had their own followers and it was he who suggested,“Why doesn’t everybody get together on the same platform, so that all the people may see you andlisten to you?” This was Gurudev’s genius.He used to stay in the background and said, “I am not so important. I am not even necessaryfor the satsanga, except to create the platform, spread the mats and prepare seats for these holy mento sit on.” When he moved over to the present ashram site, the first thing he did was to ensure thatthere was a satsanga every night in the ashram–summer, winter, rainy season or monsoon. In winterthey used to go up the hill where it was less cold and in summer satsanga was on the Ganges riverbank, where it was cool. Even when his body’s health was deteriorating, he did not miss a satsanga,and we were blessed that he did not, for it was he who was the Sat in the Sanga: i.e. the divinitywhose company was sought by those who gathered there. He was a holy man; he didn’t needanybody’s company, and yet, walking with the aid of a long stick, he used to come to the prayer hallevery night. When the body didn’t allow even that much of walking, he used to hold the shouldersof two people and walk–still he came to satsanga. Nobody could prevent him from doing that. Later,when he was not quite sure whether the legs could even sustain the body, hold it up, he said, “Oh,the legs are a bit wobbly, what are we going to do?” He was a doctor, so of course he knew thesolution. “Bring me a wheelchair.” I don’t know if I can convey this to you. A Swami, a Yogi, whobut a few years before that was in radiant health, wonderful health, better health than all of us puttogether, this holy man was not reluctant at all to be wheeled in this chair to the satsanga. Later hecouldn’t even sit in the satsanga. I wonder if you can enter into the spirit of this–for instance it iseven considered improper for someone to lie down during a church service, but he said, “I am notable to sit. I will come to the satsanga, lie down there, but I must come.”48

SEE GOD IN ALLTo the aspirants who made the ashram their abode and to those disciples who lived in thehundreds of cities where Divine Life Society branches function, Gurudev gave this wholesomeadvice: “Pray together, meditate together, sing together”. If any aspirant missed a satsanga, sayingthat he was engaged in individual spiritual practice, Gurudev, with a mischievous smile playingupon his eyes and lips, would enquire, “And you had a wonderful superconscious state?” Often heremarked, “All that individual practice means is sleep; in congregational prayer and meditationhowever, a powerful current is generated and the individual aspirant’s mind is elevated to greatspiritual heights.”Gurudev’s satsanga was itself unique in many ways. It was very beautiful and wonderful,and combined songs in praise of the Lord, chanting his names, music, study of scriptures,discourses etc. It catered and appealed to the needs and temperaments of all; it satisfied everyone’shunger. In the early days, there were only about ten or fifteen of us and perhaps ten visitors. We allsat in two rows and there was a little altar with a wick lamp on it. There was also a hurricane lanternon a small stool, which had to be passed around to help some of us read from the scriptures. Thesatsanga started with:om om omjaya ganesha jaya ganesha jaya ganesha pahimamsri ganesha sri ganesha sri ganesha raksha mamjaya guru siva guru hari guru ramjagadguru paramguru sadguru shyamadi guru advaita guru ananda guru omchidguru chidghana guru chinmaya guru omhare rama hare rama rama rama hare harehare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare(later this was greatly expanded)Then the lamp was passed to the first person sitting on the Master’s left, who would read achapter of the Gita, with or without translation. As soon as that was finished, that person would leadin chanting a kirtan and then the lantern would be pushed to the next person, who read from someother scripture. This person would also lead the next kirtan. And so it would go round.Sometimes the Master used to ask somebody or other to read an article which he had writtenthat day. This was very interesting. Someone might have gone to him to complain that someone elserebuked him in anger. The Master did not rebuke the person who rebuked because it might hurt him.Instead he would write a nice article, “The danger of anger”. (Sometimes he would give it to theperson concerned to type.) He would bring it to the satsanga to be read by the one who lost histemper. It hits home! It is meant for him.From there on, everyone had to lead in singing a kirtan. It was not enough to sing in chorus.The Master would not accept any excuse or explanation. He pointed out that shyness was anobstacle to spiritual progress. When everyone had finished, the Master would conclude with themahamantra kirtan and the mahamrityunjaya mantra. The satsang concluded with arati and themost sublime peace chants, beautifully expressive of his innermost feelings;49

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAOm sarvesam svastir bhavatu,sarvesam santir bhavatu,sarvesam purnam bhavatu,sarvesam mangalam bhavatu,sarve bhavantu sukhinah,sarve santu niramayah,sarve bhadrani pasyantu,ma kaschit duhkha-bhagbhavet.asato ma sat gamaya,tamaso ma jyotir gamaya,mrityor ma amritam gamaya.Om purnamadah purnamidampurnat purnamudachyatepurnasya purnamadayapurnameva vasistyateOm santih santih santihThe spirit of the above chants is as follows: “May all be blessed with well-being,auspiciousness, peace and fullness. May all be happy and free from illness. May all see only good;and may no ill befall anyone. O Lord, lead me from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light andfrom mortality to immortality. The Lord is full; the creation is also full. The latter has appeared inthe Lord, and yet the Lord is everfull. Om. Peace. Peace. Peace.”After this the Master would walk away very quietly so that the profound thoughts and ideasheard from the scriptures would still be fresh and ringing in our minds and heart as we went to bed.This was the whole basic structure of the satsanga. Gurudev encouraged people to havesatsanga in their own homes, perhaps with a few neighbours, choosing their own scriptures.Gurudev was one of the greatest living votaries of practical prayer, prayer which rises fromthe heart and thus pervades and nourishes every cell of man’s being, even as the heart’s bloodpervades and nourishes the body. At satsanga and at other times too, one would often hear Gurudevsay, “Mr. So-and-so passed away today. Let us pray for the peace of the departed soul”, or “Today isMrs. So-and-so’s birthday, let us pray for her health and long life”. Then he himself would conductthe congregational chanting of the Lord’s names and conclude with a two minute silent meditationand prayer. Only subtle eyes of intuition could notice the powerful spiritual current generated by awhole gathering of devotees at the holy feet of this incarnate divinity, offering silent prayer to theAlmighty to bless the person on whose behalf the prayer had been offered. This prayer has literallywrought miracles.PrayerApart from this the Master always insisted on our praying for all, and absolutely unselfishly.For instance, while praying for the health and long life of someone visiting the ashram, Gurudev50

SEE GOD IN ALLwould always sing, “May the Lord bless Mr... and family, and the whole world, with health,long life, peace, bliss and immortality”. And after giving the usual three cheers, “Long live Mr.So-and-so and family”, he would give the fourth cheer to the whole of mankind.This prayer was not confined to human beings. An injured dog or monkey would invariablyevoke from Gurudev, the mahamrityunjaya mantra (the holy formula dedicated to Lord Siva),which wards off all kinds of accidents, bestows health and long life and ultimately confersimmortality on one.om tryambakam yajamahe sugandhim pustivardhanamurvarukamiva bandhanan mrtyor muksiya mamrtat.(We worship the Lord who promotes health and strength. May he liberate us from death). Adead lizard on Gurudev’s path would earn the mahamantra prayer for the peace of the soul. ToGurudev, all beings were equal and prayer was always universal.Gurudev asked us to make our entire life one long prayer, by living for the realisation of Godand for the service of humanity. Until prayer becomes habitual, Gurudev exhorts us to take the helpof any prop that is available. Temples, idols, images, pictures, saints and sacred books etc., all theseshould be made the best use of to keep up the constant current of prayer. Pictures of Gods andGoddesses were hung in the office and the prayer hall. Gurudev did not, as almost everyone does,hang a picture up with the best of intentions, and then forget all about it. He wove their existenceinto his daily life. As soon as he entered the office, he would glance at them all–they were part of his‘staff’–as if to affirm: “So, here am I, to do Thy will, as Thy instrument”. A moment’s silent prayerwas offered before Gurudev commenced his work. When one task was completed and the next jobwas about to begin, or when one visitor left and the next was about to enter, he would lean back inhis chair, close one eye and with the other just throw a glance at one of the pictures of God. Thatsplit second was eternity, infinity, supreme peace and bliss–thus the contact with the absolute wascontinuously kept up.The Master was so serious about this practice that if one picture was disturbed or removed,he would at once notice it and have it restored. What need had Gurudev, the supreme being, to resortto these props of devotion? He was consciously rooted forever in Brahmic consciousness! Only toset an example for us to follow.This is the beautiful and soul-elevating Universal Prayer which Gurudev composed:O adroble Lord of mercy and loveSalutations and prostrations unto TheeThou art sat-chid-ananda (existence, knowledge, bliss absolute)Thou art omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient;Thou art the Indweller of all beings.Grant us an understanding heart, equal vision, balanced mind, faith, devotion and wisdom.Grant us inner spiritual strength to resist temptations and to control the mind.Free us from egoism, lust, greed, anger and hatred.Fill our hearts with divine virtues.51

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGALet us behold Thee in all these names and forms.Let us serve Thee in all these names and forms.Let us ever remember Thee.Let us ever sing Thy Glories.Let Thy name be ever on our lips.Let us abide in thee forever and ever.There is no doubt that one who offers this prayer morning and evening will obtain theLord’s choicest blessings and rapidly evolve towards Godhead, to shine as a liberated soul here andnow.Faith In GodThe Master used to say very often, “You are talking about God’s grace. Do you know howto experience God’s grace? Not by paying lip service. If you want to enjoy God’s grace, depend onnothing else for sometime. Without telling anybody, leave the ashram and walk away. When youfeel hungry, somebody may give you food. When you feel tired, lie down. Live like this for a fewdays, you will then come to know what God’s grace is. You will find that an unknown person,someone whom you have never met in your life, might come and say, ‘Where are you coming from?Won’t you come in and have a cup of tea?’ You will look into his face and see God’s grace. You willfeel, ‘Here is God’s grace. I don’t deserve it. I have done nothing for this man and he is probablyvery poor. He offers me a cup of tea.’ This is God’s grace. You are lying down somewhere,someone sees you shivering with cold and comes and throws a blanket over your body. You look athim and realise, ‘This is God’s grace.’ Somebody may even slap you–that too you enjoy as God’sgrace.” God’s grace is not something which the brain can invent. It has to be experienced.The Master himself did this in 1941 when there were still only a few people living with him.No one has been able to discover why he decided to leave the ashram. One afternoon the Master didnot return to his office as usual and his room was empty. They found a note, “I am retiring. I haveappointed Swami Paramananda to be the president after me and I would like the work to continue.”He had gone. It seems he kept walking towards Hardwar. One night he spent in a temple and thenext morning he went on walking aimlessly. Aimlessly–that was the aim. When night fell, helooked around, there was a haystack so he got in there and fell asleep. The next morning hediscovered it was a muslim’s house. This muslim looked after him for a day or two. Then Gurudevkept moving and was eventually picked up by a man who had a small sugar-cane farm. This manmade him stay there for a few days and gave him sugar-cane juice. In the meantime everyone inRishikesh, Hardwar and throughout the entire district knew that Swami Sivananda was missing. Aswami had gone in search of the Master, and finding him, begged, “Oh, please come back to theashram.” It was only then that this sugar-cane man realised that he had been host to a very great sageof the Himalayas. This man then became a great devotee of the Master’s and every year he used tobring two big drums of sugar-cane juice in commemoration of that wonderful event. And Gurudevalso used to point out straight away, “I stayed at his house for two days.”It is when you have such experiences that you begin to have faith in God. From belief, youhave graduated to faith. It is still only faith, but it is strong enough to sustain us, in life until one day,by God’s grace again, we have a direct experience of God’s omnipresence and realise that God52

SEE GOD IN ALLalone is, nothing else is. At this stage one realises that ‘I’ cannot realise God. God alone is real.When the ego dissolves, then God knows Himself. Self-realisation is the cancellation of the self.God-realisation is God realising Himself. ‘I’ does nothing at all, it is God who does all unto himself.This is the heart of bhakti yoga, the essence of God-realisation.Though as the natural ‘fruit’ of Gurudev’s bhakti yoga practices he enjoyed the visions ofdivinities and sages, though his prayers for the sick healed them and his prayers for the afflictedremoved their afflictions and even altered the destinies of devotees (many of these are recorded inthe book “Miracles of Sivananda”), his utter egolessness was the supreme manifestation of bhakti.Such egolessness is indeed love that is God.CHAPTER FOURVIRTUE AND VISIONIn raja yoga, as in all the other yogas, the first step is discipline. This has been emphasisedby all spiritual Masters, some more than others, some of them preferring the extremes, and othersnot. In raja yoga this foundational discipline is called yama. Yama in sanskrit means ‘the restrainer’as also ‘death’. Gurudev said, “Remember God and remember death.” Bring death into your dailylife, this is called yama.According to the Yoga Sutras, this yama is five-fold, Ahimsa–non-violence ornon-aggressiveness; Satyam–truthfulness; asteya–non-stealing or non-hoarding; brahmacharya–astate in which the mind dwells constantly in God (or in a more restricted sense, celibacy, purity) andaparigraha–non-greediness. The observances or niyamas consist of saucha (internal and externalpurity), santosha (contentment), tapas (austerity), svadhyaya (study of religious books) andishvara-pranidhana (self-surrender to the Lord). Some Masters suggest that unless you are alreadyequipped with all these, you should not set foot on the path of yoga. Gurudev however with atwinkle in his eye and a beautiful smile on his lips would say, “If you wait till you acquire all these,it may take you ten lifetimes. By all means cultivate them, but side by side go on with your japa andmeditation and other yoga practices, however imperfect they may be”.Even among great Masters, Gurudev Sivananda was endowed with an abundance ofcommon-sense. When it came to discipline, he often pointed out, “Don’t make any violent efforts tocontrol yourself, as there will be a reaction”. If on the other hand the discipline comes from withinyou, it is so natural that there is no effort involved in it at all. Any imposition will cause an innerrebellion. Gurudev said it so often, “Don’t go to extremes. Beware of the reaction.” The Master wasnot fond of such extreme asceticism, extreme rigidity, any extremes. Even vows he didn’t like.Though he used to encourage people to make resolves, he clearly distinguished between the two.Resolves yes, vows no.I remember a rather unpleasant incident when there was a misunderstanding between two ofGurudev’s disciples. One accused the other of impertinence–of insulting behaviour. The Master53

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAwas resting on his easy chair, when both of them arrived. The man who had misbehaved wasstanding near the Master’s feet, when suddenly he was overcome with some sort of sentiment oremotion, and lifting up his hands, he said, “Swamiji, I take a vow...”. “Oh, stop it, stop it,” said theMaster and would not let him complete the sentence. This man was going to vow that thereafter hewould never again insult anybody. Gurudev said, “How do you know what you will do later on?You take a vow now, and tomorrow if you break it, you will be haunted for doing so. Rather say, ‘Iwill try not to... I resolve to... Please God, may I...’ Resolves, yes; vows, no.”One can tell another, “This is good and this is not so good.” It is good to lead a simple life,eat moderately, not take spicy food, etc., but to impose this on another does not work. I have neverseen the Master do that.In 1944, the Master, en route from Rishikesh to Bombay, was passing through the Delhirailway station. Some of us youngsters, who were working in Delhi at the time, and who were alsoconducting the Delhi branch of the Divine Life Society, went to see him at the railway station. AndGurudev arrived there and was talking to us–bubbling with energy and enthusiasm. One had to seehim to understand and appreciate what a radiant personality meant. He asked us all, “How are youand what are you doing, etc. etc.” Amongst us there was one married man and Gurudev asked him,“How is your wife?”. “She’s not here, Swamiji. She’s gone home to Madras.” “Let her remainthere,” said Gurudev. “Lead a single life, an independent life. Let her stay there.” But this man wasvery fond of his wife. He said, “But how long will I have to remain alone, Swamiji? I don’t feel sovery happy about it”. “Is that so? Oh, in that case immediately bring her back.” He had said what hewanted to say, but if you had other views he changed immediately. It was amazing to watch thishappen.Another incident. A fairly young man, already a renunciate, a mendicant, had come to theashram. He had a wonderful flowing beard. He said to Gurudev, “I would like to stay here as yoursanyasi-disciple.” “Then you will have to shave your head and beard”, said Gurudev. Hehesitatingly consented. Noticing this, the Master quickly added, “But you can grow it againimmediately afterwards. The shaving is only for the initiation ceremony.” That was the beauty.Gurudev said what he wanted to say, but he watched very very carefully, very cautiously, to see ifyou were responding to it joyously, happily, or whether you were responding because you felt youwere under some compulsion–in which case he would immediately pull back. It was a fantastic andremarkable thing to watch.Whatever discipline the Master advocated, it had to enter into you, and then blossom likeflowers from within. The flowers come from within the tree. You and I have to go to the florist tobuy a bunch, the tree does not. This is the difference between something that is natural andsomething that is artificial. The artificial discipline which comes into being, because you weremade to under duress, does not last–usually it leads only to a dreadful reaction. This was not theMaster’s way at all.For some time, he was an extreme ascetic. Something else came along and he was preparedto adapt all the time. He could sleep on the floor, and if you provided him with a little mat he wouldsleep on that with equal joy and cheer. He could sleep on the most comfortable bed also if that wasthere. Rigidity, as also extremes, I never saw in our Master. And no vows were taken. In prayerful54

VIRTUE AND VISIONmood, you contemplate the virtues and the disciplines you wish to cultivate. In a prayerful mood,meditate and remember these things every morning and let them grow in you. This was beautifuland wonderful teaching.Yama-NiyamaThe divine qualities that constitute the first two angas (limbs) of the ashtanga yoga,Gurudev had at birth. Each quality might require several births for an aspirant to acquire, but all ofthem had become second nature to him, whose very actions portrayed the perfection that isattainable in these. Ahimsa, for instance, was inevitable to him. He was incapable of wounding thefeelings of anyone. Those who met him knew that his words were full of honey and nectar. Not aharsh word, nor an unkind remark could ever escape his lips, for they were not in his heart at all. Hewas not able to entertain a thought of hatred or ill-feeling towards anyone. I have seen that nothingin the world could make him restless except the thought that perhaps a well-meant word,misunderstood by a disciple, might have hurt his feelings. It happened only once in all the years Iwas with Gurudev–a guilty conscience was pricked (hurt) by a noble piece of advice given by theMaster. And the extent to which he went to reassure that devotee that he had only the highestopinion of him, and that he lived only to serve that disciple, was incredible.No doubt Gurudev’s writings are full of admonitions, and his lectures too, contained quite afew of them. However, in conversation he was always all-love, all-praise, all-encouragement.“Never hurt others’ feelings: be kind to all.” This was one of the most emphatic teachings ofthe Master and there was no one who practised it to perfection more than he. In practice, hedisapproved even of righteous indignation and in a case where other Masters would demand andjustify, “the use of rod,” Gurudev adopted none other than the methods that he himself had placedbefore us, “Serve, Love, Give, Meditate.” Serve the person you wish to mould and re-form; lovehim, meditate and pray for him. This is the path of non-violence. In Gurudev, non-violence becamethe positive virtue of cosmic love; love in thought, word and deed; love in everyday life, everyminute, with every breath. It pervaded even the way he walked. He was a gigantic figure but the feetfell so softly, so lightly, no one could even hear. When Gurudev walked along the road, it was adelight just to stand and watch. Sometimes he used to hold a bag in one hand and a hurricane lamp inthe other. In that step there was non-violence, in that foot-fall there was love; so that even if therewas a dry leaf it wouldn’t be crushed, even if he trod on ants they would not be injured; so soft werehis movements.The touchstone of one established in non-violence is that he cannot bear for a moment thesufferings of others, without literally running to relieve their pain. If Gurudev was taking a bath inthe Ganges and a living insect came floating by, struggling for life, he would, without a secondthought, take in into his palm and place it on the bank. Once he revealed to us without the least traceof disgust on his face, “If a worm or an insect is struggling for life in faecal matter, I remove it andprotect it.” He would not allow others to harm any being on earth.I have seen this with my own eyes. An ashramite had taken out for airing the cot on whichGurudev used to sleep and discovered that it was an abode of bugs. Devotion to the guru surged inhis heart and he prepared to exterminate them. But Gurudev appeared on the scene and said, “Ohji,55

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAplease don’t do this. Rather take the cot and leave it in the jungle for a few days; in the meantimegive me another bed.”Similarly was his protection of the rats that had taken refuge in his dwelling. A few of themhad begun to eat away the papers and destroy the bedding and clothes. The attendants working therehad managed to catch them, but all that they were allowed to do, was to give the rats a joy-ride to theforest in a cosy gunny-bag, and they invariably returned to Gurudev’s cottage the very sameevening. They even began to appeal to Gurudev’s mercy by nibbling at his fingertips at night, andfor a diabetic this was dangerous. An expert arrived at the ashram and gave his expert advice on theelimination of the rat nuisance–which was of course, the simple solution of poisoning them.Gurudev who always listened sympathetically to every kind of topic, whether pleasant orunpleasant, sacred or secular, for the first time refused to listen. He vigorously shook his head, “Therats should not be killed. On the contrary, we should take care of the things that we wish the ratsshould not destroy. Manuscripts should remain in a steel cabinet, bedding and clothes too, should bewell protected against them. The rats should never be killed.” If the expert had said anything more,he would have earned a regular food supply for the rats, just as others had done who pleaded that themonkeys living in the ashram’s neighbourhood should be driven away. This suggestion had beenquickly countered by Gurudev’s sanctioning a regular supply of nuts for the monkeys.Gurudev was an apostle of love and peace, spreading harmony amongst all beings byplacing his own sublime life before them as an example for all to emulate. Whenever the occasionarose and Gurudev ascended the platform, he discoursed not upon high philosophical themes but onthe practical application of the understanding that one common consciousness pervades all beings,i.e., self-less service and cosmic love. His apostolic mission was not confined to platform lecturingand pamphleteering, but to the adoption of practical methods of enabling all those who gathered inhis fold and all those whom his message reached to love all and to serve all beings. Thus thisincarnation of God radiated the principles of non-violence, in order that the rays of love mightdispel the gloom of hatred, disharmony and ill-will. Gurudev assured us that anyone who cultivatedahimsa to a high degree of perfection, would automatically become the abode of all virtues; and hehimself was the proof.Satyam: Absolute truthfulness in thought, word and deed was Gurudev’s very breath. Truthdoes not only mean that you speak the truth concerning everything, concerning your life and yourenvironment; facing the facts without bluffing yourself. What is the truth concerning life? Life issubject to death. Life is subject to illness, disease, ups and downs, success and failure, happinessand unhappiness. Face that.Gurudev’s discipline brought death into life. He died every day, every minute and this wasone of the secrets of his perpetual youthfulness. There is no sudden death, one is dying all the time.The body is growing old continuously, moving towards death all the time, If you see this, then youare not afraid of sickness or death, nor of what is called old age. Laugh and smile, surely, but alsoknow that these things are there. Then you are free at once. Truth is an extremely simple discipline.Become aware of the fact or the truth concerning life then it is possible that you will also see thatthere is something, beyond–beyond that happiness and unhappiness there is something else,something more valuable in life.56

VIRTUE AND VISIONGurudev sang,“Is there not a nobler mission, than eating, drinking and sleeping?”First you must face the fact that your life is being spent day in and day out, in eating,drinking and sleeping. Whatever you do is also motivated by these! Till you face that, there is nosense in sitting looking at your nose and saying, “I am the immortal self.” You are not the immortalself; you are very much the body. Have you asked yourself why you should eat at ail, why youshould live at all, what is meant by life, what is meant by death? Only when you face the truthconcerning life, will you find out, not otherwise.Gurudev lived and moved and had his being in the Supreme Being and therefore practisedthe highest kind of brahmacharya (continence). Asteya (non-stealing) and aparigraha(non-covetousness) being the concomitant virtues of truthfulness and continence, were natural toGurudev; it was our blessed good fortune that he committed a truly wonderful theft–he stole ourhearts and took away from us all our sins.The niyamas: Gurudev was a living illustration of the three-fold austerity described by LordKrishna in the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 17, verses 14-16. For instance, as regards austerity ofspeech, he would not utter words that, even though truthful and beneficial, were even likely to beunpleasant; instead he would, in his own words, “Leave it to God.” Gurudev had absolute controlover his speech. He did not waste one word. His words were measured, calculated to educate thelistener and elevate his soul. Vain philosophical discussions and worldly topics dared not waste hisbreath. He was not fond of showing off his knowledge and would shame a poking pundit with hisstudied silence.As regards self-control, it was there in him to the extent of cell control. There was nothinginvoluntary about him; every cell of his being obeyed him. One who watched him remain seated forhours on end, attending a satsanga which dragged on till past midnight, would hardly believe that hehad chronic diarrhoea or diabetes or lumbago, and neither sleep nor tiredness could compel him toretire.The supreme austerity that he and perhaps he alone practised (even among saints of hiscalibre) was what he called the highest yoga: “BEAR INSULT, BEAR INJURY.” No austerity isgreater than this. If you begin to practise this, you will know that this is real austerity; there is terrificburning ‘inside’. If it is allowed to die away within, without fuming outside, it will burn away allyour evil impressions and tendencies; burn away your vanity and egoism. I have seen it with myown eyes; Gurudev smiling and blessing his own disciples, people who were unfit to brush hisshoes, when they insulted him and tried to injure his feelings. I shudder at the very thought.Gurudev’s austerity was, as was everything else about him, complete andall-comprehensive. Absolute surrender to the divine will was the supreme factor that characterisedevery act, resounded in every word and radiated through every thought of Gurudev. Thus hebecame one with God. His actions were aimed at the bringing about of human weal, his words weretruthful, soothing and beneficial as also authoritative and life-transforming and his thoughts wereever divine.57

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGARenunciationBasic however to all other disciplines, there is one discipline and one virtue and in theBhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna confines himself to only these two terms, Abhyasa and vairagya.Abhyasa means constant and repeated practice. Vairgaya (dispassion or renunciation) is the turningaway from the pursuit of pleasure; curbing the pleasure-seeking mentality; turning desire or cravingback upon itself.Unless you renounce the world, you cannot attain self-realisation or God-realisation. Unlessyou let go of your attachment to this world, you cannot reach your (spiritual) destination. TheMaster expressed this in his own song; “Detach the mind from the objects, attach it to the Lord.”Detach the mind from your worldly desires, ambitions and cravings, and attach it to God. Thisrenunciation is basic to any spiritual life. If it is not there, there is no spiritual life. In this respectagain, the Master had no dogmas, neither in his teachings, nor in his own life. He was not fond ofdogmas.When you think of a holy man, a swami, Swami Sivananda, the basic idea that occurs to youis that he is a man of renunciation. “Swami Sivananda renounced the world”–that is the expressionwe use, but it is not quite correct. It was Dr. Kuppuswamy who renounced the world. A swami iswhat remains after a man has renounced, it is when the spirit of renunciation has matured that onebecomes a swami.The spirit of renunciation was there in the case of Swami Sivananda, right from childhood.At one stage it meant that he had to abandon something and pick up something else–as all of us do.You abandon your toys and pick up something else, which you call friends, you abandon thefriends–again for something else, called children, etc., and so it goes on: eventually you are pickedup by somebody else. This is done by everybody, but when it is done by someone who has the spiritof renunciation, it has a different character. The spirit of renunciation as distinct from the form ofrenunciation, is extremely difficult to understand.Renunciation is not done by the ego. What “I” renounces–what the ego renounces is notrenunciation. It is like the barometer which you keep outside for maximum-minimum temperaturereadings. The quantity of mercury is the same–if this thing goes up, that one goes down. When yourenounce “this”, there is something within you that keeps growing, growing and growing–egoism,vanity, tremendous vanity, inconceivable vanity. If ‘I’ truly renounce the world, I do not touch theworld again. If ‘I’ have given up all idea of ‘mineness’, then I do not go about saying, “This is notmine.” When people keep telling you what they have renounced, it only means that they have notrenounced. If you have truly renounced, why talk about it? When you say it, the desire for the objectis still there; some attachment is still there, while you pretend and profess that it is not. The personwho consciously undertakes renunciation does not renounce. He treats it as a form of ritual. Herigidly avoids what he thinks he has renounced.Gurudev never magnified his renunciation. On the contrary, he always exalted the littlerenunciation of a mediocre aspirant. He had given up much wealth, a prosperous career, princelycomforts and a great position overnight, to wander about as a penniless, homeless mendicant.Nevertheless, he extolled the spirit of renunciation of one who had given up an insignificant slavish58

VIRTUE AND VISIONjob which had earned him thirty rupees a month. He would point to an austere seeker, who did notwear a shirt in winter as one who far excelled him in austerity and would not reveal that during hisSwargashram days, he had put himself through far greater austerities, when he would give away allthe good blankets that devotees gave him and sleep on gunny. He called himself “an overcoatswami” as though to belittle himself. Yet, when he presented an overcoat to a young disciple, hewould explain, “Why imagine that an overcoat is something other than a mere woollen blanket ?Wrapping oneself in a blanket is clumsy and unsuited to active service. We are wearing the sameblanket, only cut and stitched so as to move about and work more efficiently.”This is the way to overcome the formidable sannyasa-abhimana (the vanity of being a monkor swami). It is a difficult practice and it is only Gurudev’s grace and God’s blessings that enableone to know when spiritual practice ends and vanity begins; when licentiousness masquerades inthe garb of the absence of vanity.Gurudev was an embodiment, a manifestation of this continuous spirit of renunciation.Living with such a sage–being in his very presence, one can see it and probably admire it: rarely isone able to be inspired by it. To ‘inspire’ is to inhale. Unless you are alive, awake and mature, theinhalation or inspiration is of no use to you.The first thing that the Master had to abandon, and this was very difficult in those days, wasthe vanity and pride of the caste into which he was born–the Brahmin vanity. When Gurudev was ayoung man, his fancy took him to an expert in fencing, who, by caste, was an untouchable. Gurudevhimself belonged to an orthodox family of Saivite Brahmins (persons of the highest caste in theHindu social system who consider Lord Siva to be the highest being), and to him to approach apariah (untouchable) was to invite the fury of the elders in the family. After only a few days’lessons, Gurudev garlanded his teacher, and gave him rich presents–guru dakshina (humbleofferings to the teacher) and worshipped the outcaste. For Gurudev to bow down and fall prostrateat the feet of this peasant meant abandoning much social pressure and conditioning. This was thefirst thing to go: the pride of caste and ancestry. Incidentally, this also shows how much Gurudevvalued honouring, worshipping and serving the teacher.Gurudev was an extremely loving and lovable person and there is no doubt that in hisyounger days, he must have been capable of being very attached. When one watched him meetsome old men who were his boyhood friends–a few of them came to the ashram–one realised thatGurudev must have been very fond of them, because even after a separation of half a century, theyreturned to his contact. When Gurudev was 65, his schoolmaster came, the seventy-five years oldpostmaster of his birth place came, several others also came and Gurudev was so familiar, soaffectionate, so friendly in spite of the fact that he was a swami and that fifty years had elapsed inthe meantime. He was so playful with them that one could easily see that he could have beenpositively attached to them before. To suddenly drop them and go off to Malaya was a wonderfulact of renunciation.In Malaya too, the then Dr. Kuppuswamy built up a nice circle of friends. A prosperouscareer had earned for him a wonderful reputation. He was a great friend-maker, a very sociableperson. His friends from Malaya also came to the ashram and I too contacted a few others who werestill there when I later went to Malaya. They remembered him vividly. One of Gurudev’s59

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAcolleagues had a daughter who was about 4 or 5 when Gurudev was in Malaya and she rememberedhim. So, the Master had had a wonderful time there with plenty of opportunity for practice andservice, and plenty of friendship. The Master once said that in his young days he was very fond ofgood clothes and also jewellery. He led a very good life in Malaya. His old cook used to narrate to usstories of what a charming young man he was.Perhaps in his youth Gurudev was greatly helped by the fact that he took up medicine.People who constantly deal with the sick, the dead and the dying tend to become completelyimmune to it. Either they become immune or become like Swami Sivananda. As a doctor, at onestage or another, the question had to arise, “What is the use of all this? What am I doing all this for?Why earn money? I am earning money in order to enjoy my life. What is this enjoyment?” If adoctor treats a patient and even if he is cured, another illness develops. It is progressing from bad toworse. Everyone must die–no doctor can prevent that.Such a meaningless life had to be given up. Gurudev liked the service and the work there.He was also attached to the people. All this was given up. For such a sociable person to suddenlyabandon the whole thing and walk out is renunciation of a very high, degree. The renunciation of hiscareer in Malaya was not born of disappointment or failure or despair. He was a very successfulperson. Nor was there a craving for something else, for psychic or spiritual development or tobecome a great swami. It was also not craving for reputation, name and fame, or a great followingetc., that drew him from Malaya. It was a supreme act of self-surrender. Like the Buddha he wasable to see, from what went on around him, the truth concerning life. Renunciation is incidental tothe realisation of the truth. This spirit of renunciation kept Gurudev company throughout.In answer to a query by Sri Indrajit Sharma, one of Gurudev’s biographers, the Master said,“The one consuming thought with which I came back to India was, ‘I MUST REALISE GODNOW’, I Never wanted to build an ashram, or to found a society. I wanted to efface myselfcompletely, sit under a tree, sing the praises of the Lord and do japa.”That was the moment when Gurudev surrendered completely at the lotus feet of the Lord, allthe aims, ambitions and ideals that had motivated his life until then. Human will had burnt itself upin the fire of intense yearning for the realisation of God. Even the desire to render selfless service tothe sick and suffering had temporarily been offered as it were into this fire of self-surrender. All wassurrendered to the will of God. The man who had been offered as oblation into this fire emerged asGod Himself. This was God-realisation in the truest sense of the term. From then on, God becamethe only reality; God’s consciousness became Gurudev’s consciousness; God’s will became hiswill and his life became one with the divine life.Gurudev had renounced his career, his profession and his wealth. He came back to hisvillage, got down at the railway station and hired a cart. He had quite a lot of baggage. The cartcarrying the heavy load of his personal effects (the small portion of his Malayan wealth that he hadbrought over to India) halted in front of his ancestral home in South India. Gurudev let the relativesunload his things and pretended to supervise this operation. In the meantime he had kept aside asmall cloth bag into which he had stuffed a change of clothing and a few rupees. When no one waslooking, quietly he slipped away and walked back to the railway station. They thought that he musthave gone to the temple or to a neighbour and did not take any notice of it. He got into a train and60

VIRTUE AND VISIONleft. Whatever had been weighing him down had been given up, abandoned. It is extremelyimportant to understand this phrase. Whatever was weighing him down was abandoned. Thefeeling, “I am a doctor, a very popular doctor, a wealthy man. I am this, I am that” all that had to go.He took the train to Benares. Somehow he thought Benares was close to the Himaiayas. Hewanted to go to the Himalayas to do penance and meditate. The little money he had left, he gaveaway. It was bitterly cold and he was not used to the cold, he was used to the warm climate of SouthIndia and Malaya. He had no idea what the North Indian winter could be like. Perhaps he had just ashawl and it was totally insufficient. During the epochal All-India Tour in 1950, Gurudev himselfpointed out the railway station platform which he had exchanged for the comfortable house inwhich he lived in Malaya. He had renounced the world and its possessions, everything had gone.There he was, crouched beneath the railway platform, shivering, but his mind was soaring far abovethe earth, helping the body to ignore the cold and neglect the hunger. The first phase of the austerityhad commenced, but to Gurudev, reaching the goal was of much greater importance than botheringabout the body.Gurudev did not know the local language. He knew only English and Tamil. Later a ‘GoodSamaritan’, observing this wonderful man shivering with cold but so indifferent to it that he wouldnot ask anyone for a blanket, said, “Here, take this and cover yourself, otherwise you’ll die ofpneumonia.” A blanket was the first charity Gurudev received. The hand that gave and gave toall–and in plenty, for the first time received alms. This has to be experienced to understand themagnitude of this austerity. It would perhaps have been easier to say, “I don’t want it. I am arenunciate.” That is a trap called ‘renunciation’. He threw that rigidity slightly aside and receivedthe blanket.Then came the next problem. He was a wealthy man from a respectable family. He did notknow what to do in order to beg for food. Nobody came to him and offered food. He was a strong,healthy looking young man, why must someone offer him food? So he suffered for a few days. Soonhe decided that this was not where he wanted to be and someone gave him a ticket and guided him toPandharpur, a famous place for devotees, yogis, and so on. He wandered about here and there in thisstrange land amongst strangers who neither understood his language, nor the ways of this educatedrobust young man. When hunger tormented him he started begging from door to door for a fewdays. But how to do this? How to beg? He developed a formula: he would stand before someone’shouse and say “I am a Madrasi Brahmin, I am hungry. Please give me some food.” Sometimes theygave him and sometimes they did not. He never questioned or grumbled. He would humbly takewhat was given, silently bless the giver and walk away. It requires a discerning heart to understandthis austerity.What really worried him was not being turned away, but the possibility of standing in frontof a poor man’s house, and depriving him of his food. He used to say this quite often to us: “Howcan you accept charity from someone without deserving it?” Begging was foreign to Gurudev’snature, even though it is in accordance with scriptural sanction for a monk to beg for his food. Toaccept charity without giving something in return didn’t please or appeal to him at all. So the nextthing that had to be renounced was the idea “I am going to be a mendicant.” Even that had to go.When that wandering mendicant life became an obstacle in itself, he abandoned it. Later he oftenused to make fun of it. Whenever amongst his own disciples somebody rebelled against the ashram61

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAdiscipline and said, “I want to go away and wander about,” Gurudev would say, “Here when two orthree people order you and you don’t want to obey them you think of running away from theashram. You think that this is freedom. You will soon discover that it is not, because from morningtill night you will be meditating on who will give you your next meal. That life is also bothersome,also an obstacle.” So Gurudev abandoned this wandering life.Gurudev thought, “Instead of wandering around like this, let me go and get a job.” The thingthat had been abandoned in Malaya had to be picked up again. The spirit of renunciation is stillthere, but it is not rigid, it is alive. It keeps burning like fire and it burns whatever you throw into it.“That job there with all its paraphernalia was weighing my self down, so I gave it up. Mendicancymeans that I am a parasite on society, so this also must go, I must accept a job which is not verystrenuous.” So he accepted a job as a postmaster’s domestic servant. Here you see a beautiful newapproach to the gospel of renunciation. What is it that is renounced? Not food, not clothing, shelter,medical attention, study and service. What is renounced? The thing that is pulling you down, tyingyou down to this earthly life, whatever it may be. In the personal service of this postmaster,Gurudev would draw water and hew wood. For this he was given some money and that was enoughto live on. This job involved no strenuous responsibilities. Somehow the postmaster soon realisedthe greatness of his domestic servant. He found out that Gurudev was not a beggar, but a doctor andso on. The postmaster was a bit embarrassed. He sent Gurudev away explaining the set-up inRishikesh. “You want only simple food, clothing and shelter without troubling others. In Rishikeshyou will get all you need without having to be a domestic servant.” So that was the next thing to go.In Rishikesh Gurudev joined an ashram, an institution whose purpose it is to provide freefood, clothing and shelter, to swamis. Yet again, he did whatever he could in whatever way he couldto contribute to the welfare of the institution. Renouncing the world did not mean renouncingservice. He was a doctor and the divine will sought to utilise his medical talents. The healing graceof the Lord made Gurudev’s hands its instruments, flowing through them once again to bringcomfort, relief and solace to the distressed.Gurudev had settled down in the Swarg Ashram which he found quite congenial. He couldeasily have stayed there. It was quite comfortable and he had no problems at all. He often said that itwas an ideal place. The swamis who lived there did not have to own anything, possess anything ordo any work at all. Medical facilities were also available. There were facilities for seclusion, whichis equally important. “I must be able, wherever I am, to tear myself away from all company for ashort while,” Gurudev used to say. Lastly, there was a library close at hand, which meant that themind and intellect would not be starved. He said that an ideal place should have these. He found allthese in Swarg Ashram, where he settled down to practise his austerities. ‘Swarg’ in Sanskrit means‘heaven’ and it was heaven, as far as Swami Sivananda was concerned. He had no responsibilities,nothing to weigh him down at all.During this period, Gurudev performed all the common forms of austerity, such as standingin the freezing waters of the Ganges and repeating the Lord’s name; sleeping on the bare ground;fasting for days on end, etc. In the latter days however, he deprecated such practices as being of notmuch spiritual value.62

VIRTUE AND VISIONYou may call it God’s will or Karma, or God’s grace, but he had attracted a few of his ownadmirers and devotees who provided whatever other things he needed. A few young men had alsocome to join him as his own personal disciples. The Swarg Ashram rules allowed two youngswamis as personal disciples for each of the senior monks living there. The ashram would look afterthem, so that they could serve their guru. Gurudev had his two disciples, that was no problem, butsoon the two became four and the four became eight. That created a problem in the organisation.Although the Master himself never mentioned this, there was some trouble. Once whileGurudev was away, the disciples wrote urgently to him, “There is trouble, please come back.”Gurudev sent them a letter in telegraph form, “Out of evil comes good. Bear it. Keep quiet.”Gurudev returned and without any recrimination, or retaliation, without justifying his actions,without condemning, he just went to the head of the institution, folded his palms and said quietly,“I’m leaving, going across the river,” and walked out. It was beautiful. In Swarg Ashram there wasfreedom, but limited freedom, restricted freedom (restricted freedom is not freedom). So he had torenounce that too. Not for a moment did Gurudev’s heart entertain the least dissatisfaction. With theresult that even when he had his own ashram he was still on excellent terms with Swarg Ashram.As early as 1948 the Master and some of us went over to his old ashram. Gurudev hadbecome a world renowned swami with a great number of disciples, and his own ashram had grownand prospered. He was greeted and welcomed by the management of Swarg Ashram, and we spent acouple of hours there. You should have seen him there. He was giving them ideas, and asking us tohelp them in various ways. It was fantastic.Gurudev moved over to the other side of the river. Once again there was a little bit ofmendicancy, but not so hard as before. There was a bit more freedom, a bit more elbow room. Butthe four or five people who were with him at the time had also to walk three or four miles twice aday, to get a little food. At this stage Gurudev thought that if he could get a roof over his head, itwould be possible to do some stable work. So they found a stable to do the stable work. It was anabandoned cowshed, which they cleaned up and occupied. As no one questioned them they did notinvestigate to whom it belonged. It was disused, misused, so it seemed better to clean it and sit downand get on with some work. They got a rickety typewriter and started.Now again this might puzzle you. Can I go and occupy somebody’s house while he is awayon vacation or pilgrimage? But then from their point of view it was the purest manifestation of thespirit of renunciation, “We don’t own this place, we are merely utilising it and if the owner comesalong and demands, we will get out at once and hand it back to him.” That was the spirit. They werenot going to fight and stay. They were not going to claim that they owned it. They were merelyusing it, just as we are using this body.As soon as they moved to the new abode, the Master and his first disciples had alreadycommenced the mission. They started working very hard. Today at the ashram we have first-classprinting presses, beautiful books and tape-recorders, but if you knew under what conditions all thisstarted, you would be shaken. At this stage, there was no money to buy paper. What did he do? Hewould cut open the envelopes containing the letters that people wrote to him, cut them rightthrough, so that the inside could be used as writing paper for recording his thoughts. They couldwork at night, but what about light? There was no electricity in the ashram till as recently as63

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGA1952-53. There was not even enough money to buy a proper lamp. So, they found some old bottleswith the old-style cork tops, they made a hole through the cork, made a wick from a few threads ofmaterial and filled the bottle with kerosene. It became a lamp.How did this great man find his first publishers? He did not know anyone. Gurudev used towrite some notes, some instructions on bits of paper, put them together and send them...to whom?To the postmaster of just any town. Every place has a postmaster, even though it may have verylittle else. He would address the packet to (for instance)–"The Postmaster, Madras," with a coveringletter saying, “These are the thoughts that occurred to me yesterday. I think they are inspiring. Soplease have a small leaflet printed. You can distribute them. Print as many as you like but pleasesend me a hundred copies.” One such recipient actually did it and sent Swami Sivenanda the 100copies of what he had printed saying, “I admire your confidence.”Slowly an ashram seemed to be growing around him; growing and growing and Gurudevallowed it to grow. There was no haughty pride of renunciation to block it. Earlier, Gurudev hadinsisted that no ashram should be built or disciples accepted. This was now confronted with thedivine will which had it all otherwise, and there was no “rebellion.” The comfort of staying alone,independent and free–even that had to be renounced.When you feel that you are being weighed down by your own resolutions and dogmas, byyour own personal, individual will drop them. It is easy to give up your shirt, but it is very difficultto give up this vanity. This is the acid test in which even saintly souls have failed. Afraid of losingface, they cling to the expressed ideas of their spiritual childhood, never allowing themselves togrow in the garden of divinity.Renunciation is not a practice; not something you do one fine morning. It is a continuousand never-ending process which concerns both your inner and outer life. This continuous spirit ofrenunciation burns within, breaking all ideologies down. It manifests as freedom, non-attachment;freedom from your own image, your own internal ideas, ideologies, schemes, hopes, fears, freedomfrom being dominated by yourself. It is easy to renounce wife, children and so on. But it is not soeasy to renounce the ego unless one discovers this spirit of renunciation without which there is norenunciation at all. This spirit of renunciation, even when it applies to external relationships,springs from within. Therefore, it is a spirit not a mechanical, physical, material action. This is theMaster’s song:“The eye is not a fetter;, form is not a fetter Jaya Jaya Ram.The excited desire is a fetter, Sita Ram.”And in the same way, he has given a whole lot of them–"Sound is not a fetter, music is not afetter" etc. The excited desire is within you, not outside. If you do not understand this, you keep theexcited desire even more excited, while pushing everything else away. Nothing binds you exceptthe ‘excited’ desire.In the Yoga Vasishtha there is a beautiful little verse which says, “For one whose feet arecovered with leather shoes, the whole world is covered with leather.” You don’t have to reform theworld, you don’t have to renounce the world. Wrap your inner being with the spirit of renunciation;64

VIRTUE AND VISIONit will destroy all the obstacles on your path. Therefore Gurudev once said that he had no obstacleswhatsoever in his practice of yoga.Swami Sivananda was not a floating feather, to be wafted where the wind chose. He had hisown ideal, but in the words of Jesus Christ, “But not my will; Thy will be done.” Can this spirit ofrenunciation be kept alive every moment of your existence without saying, “I don’t care whathappens,” (which is callous indifference) nor saying, “No! I have vowed to do this, and it shall beso,” (which is being an egotist). That was Gurudev’s secret.This total surrender meant that Gurudev’s life was never a mechanical life, never arepetitious life; so much so in fact that it might suggest a series of contradictions. If for example youhad come to the ashram in 1944 or ‘45, and said, “Swamiji, I have bought a pair of kartals (smallcymbals); can I play them in satsanga?”, he would have replied, “No, when you sing kirtan, youshould sit as if you are sitting for your meditation and enter a meditative mood.” Yet if you had goneback around 1953, you would have found them singing and dancing with tablas, harmonium and allsorts of instruments. When there is no sense at all of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ then the whole stream of life isallowed to flow on, without interference, without stopping it, without pushing it. As the ashramgrew, Gurudev had to make enormous changes from day to day, from moment to moment, as eachnew situation developed.Gurudev’s whole mission had started with sankirtan conferences, but soon the whole thingwas changed. He discovered that any form of specialisation leads only to vanity and greater vanity,whereas renunciation must reduce vanity, make it thinner, and make the heart more transparent. SoGurudev decided, “Sankirtan alone will not do. We must combine something more, we mustcombine service and study and also meditation.” So, the Divine Life Society was formed. In its firstconstitution it said that the Society should spread the knowledge of the ‘Hindu’ religion. That wasthe first framework, the prevailing concept and sentiment and it was accepted–but not for long.When the Master’s radiant personality and teachings attracted people from other faiths, here-drafted the constitution–modified it and widened it. One had to live with him to understand this.We ourselves did not know where we were from day to day because that renunciation was not onlyprogressive but aggressive and constant. He did not allow anything to stay stagnant.The Divine Life Society was started in 1936 and towards 1947 Gurudev had the idea ofstarting what was called the Yoga Vedanta Forest University. For this he had some stationeryprinted. He told those of us who were in charge of correspondence: “Hereafter, don’t use the DivineLife stationery–use this. You must popularise the Yoga Vedanta Forest University.”Watch and see where a new bondage arises and snap the thread then and there. This spirit ofrenunciation or inner watchfulness will stop all forms of bondage without preserving some–even asfire burns everything! In Gurudev’s case this fire went on unceasingly breaking down allideologies, all barriers, whatever they were.At one time the Master had said that women should not be allowed to stay in the ashram, butwhen one came to stay he said: “Alright, change the rule.” In the words of Christ, “The sabbath wasmade for man, not man for sabbath.”65

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAThe renunciation of Gurudev’s also manifested as a unique form of non-attachment. Mostof us do not know the difference between love and attachment, nor between non-attachment andindifference. Perhaps this is not possible to explain, one has to see it–watch it, to appreciate itsbeauty. I have never seen a man who loved humanity more than Swami Sivananda did. It was mosteasily evident in his attitude towards his disciples. There was virtually nothing he would not do,virtually nothing he would not put up with. Yet ..........There was a swami in the ashram who was working heart and soul. We all thought thatwithout him the ashram could not go on. He was so vital, so important and he was deeply devoted tothe Master, who in turn had tremendous admiration for him. One day this swami was bitten by arabid dog. Such was the strength and vitality of this young man that even though he had beenmauled from head to foot, he recovered in two or three weeks. And how the Master looked after himduring his convalescence is not for words to describe. This swami started working again, whensuddenly he developed a pain in his left arm. Someone went and told the Master. Immediately a taxiwas hired, this swami, accompanied by a doctor, was sent about two hundred miles away to aspecial hospital. The Master himself told the doctor, “Do all that you can for him. Never mind whatthe expense is.” The next day, we received a telegram from them; “Swami improving.” We gave itto Gurudev. Oh joy, joy. What delight shone in his face! He was thrilled. Two or three hours later,the Master had just finished having his bath and was preparing for lunch. Another telegram arrived.The man who had brought the telegram was so choked he could not even read it. He gave it to theMaster. Gurudev didn’t even put on his spectacles, he looked at it. I have never seen such profoundshock on any face. He exclaimed; “Ha! He is dead?” The telegram said he was dead. The sage ofself-realisation, a great yogi, is not inhuman. We have strange notions regarding yogis and sagesand think that they would behave as if they were marble statues. You had to see Gurudev toappreciate that a yogi is the purest of humans; perhaps he is the only human being. After the initialshock, he said: “Alright, ask the doctor to bring the body here. Consign it to the Ganges, that is whathe wanted.” So suddenly one thinks, “Ah, here is one person that the Master is attached to. He likeshim so much.” The next morning the taxi arrived with the body. The Master was on his way to theoffice. He didn’t even turn to look. As long as the person was alive, he did all that he could. Once hewas dead, he did not pay any attention.Within minutes, the Master was in the office, carrying on with his work, as though nothinghad happened. This holy man, who but twenty-four hours before had dropped everything so thatthis one person could receive all attention and be carefully looked after, who had sent away his owndoctor to accompany him to Simla, the same Master, once that person was dead, wouldn’t think ofhim again, except in the evening satsanga when he conducted prayers for the peace of the departedsoul. You must see a living example of one who loves without being attached, who is unattachedwithout being indifferent.Out of this spirit of renunciation is born true humility because this renunciation does notstop only with burning what is outside (your attachment to others), but continues to burn deepwithin you, freeing you from yourself.That is what we repeat in the Universal Prayer that he wrote: “Free us from egoism (that’sthe first thing), lust, greed, anger, hatred and jealousy.” When you pray, “Free me from egoism,lust, greed, anger, hatred and jealousy,” it means that all these are in you, perhaps in their manifest66

VIRTUE AND VISIONstate, or may be in their potential, hidden or latent state. Even the most amateurish attempt toovercome egoism involves the direct realisation that it is there, and it is in this that true humility lies.Often Gurudev used to say these wonderful words in Tamil:kadeshi varaikkum ushaaraa irukkanam“You must be vigilant until the end.” The knowledge that egoism is potentially there as longas the body lasts, enables one to be truly humble–not hypocritically or superficially humble, buttruly humble, with the humility that comes only when one’s whole being is possessed by thisburning fire of renunciation.This incident happened on the last day of the All-India tour. The Master had been round thewhole of India and Ceylon. He had been literally worshipped by millions of people. Of course yourealise that it was not possible for Gurudev to literally fall at the feet of all these millions of peoplewho crowded round him, though he would have loved to do so. On the last day he was in Delhi. Hishealth was not good and he was resting, not at the place where the organisers had arranged but in thehouse of a devotee, an army officer. Gurudev was sleeping after lunch. He was supposed to meetsomeone at 3.15 p.m. At five past three we heard Gurudev clear his throat...He got up and asked,“Isn’t it time for us to go? Has the car arrived? We said, ”Yes, Swamiji, the car is here," andimmediately he got up, took his bag and his towel and got into the car. From inside the car he lookedinto the hall and saw the officer’s wife standing there at the door. He asked us: “Are we comingback here?” We were not. Gurudev turned to her and took leave of her with folded palms. The carmoved. Two or three minutes later he said, “Ask the driver to go back to the house.” The car came toa halt at the entrance to the house. It was a beautiful scene there. He got out and went inside. Thelady of the house was not in the lounge, she was in the kitchen, so he went right through withouteven calling or making a sound. He stood in front of that lady, folded his palms and said, “Pleaseforgive me.” It was an unforgettable scene. He was tall and hefty and she was shortish, lean andthin. He bowed down, “Please forgive me,” and with tears in his eyes, he repeated “Please forgiveme.” She couldn’t say anything; she started to cry. Gurudev said, “I should have come and takenleave of you properly, I said ‘thank you’ from the car. I should have come in and taken leaveproperly. Please forgive me.” This poor lady was in tears. She didn’t know what to do, shecollapsed, caught hold of his feet. Then Gurudev went back and sat in the car, “Right, let’s go.” Aswe moved on he did not talk for about five minutes. Then he turned to me and said, “Fromsomewhere a little vanity tried to creep in. One has to be very vigilant.” If one is able to do that, thenit is possible to be free not only from all attachment to things outside, but more important, fromone’s own vanity and self-esteem.There was no weakness in the Master’s heart or his behaviour. He could be strong,inflexible–so that in his case even humility was not a trap or a prison. Gurudev’s humility wassaturated with intelligence and wisdom.We saw this is his ‘encounter’ with a world famous ‘spiritual’ leader. This leader was reallyand truly a leader of millions throughout the world, who even before he died was worshipped as anincarnation of God.67

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAIn 1953, the Master was in bed with a severe bout of lumbago. He couldn’t even sit up in bedbut his mind was alert, perfect. Oh, it was a delight to watch him, propped up on pillows, eatingnicely, talking and working. He had big legs, big thighs, which he used as his table, and he wascarrying on working. He said, “The only thing I cannot do is turn my waist.” Unfortunately for thisspiritual leader he came during that period so that he was the only ‘holy’ man Swami Sivananda didnot salute properly. On Gurudev’s face you could see the tremendous pain, “Such a worldrenowned spiritual leader has come and I’m not even able to get up and greet him, welcome himproperly.” The leader came in, along with his disciple. He stood there and the Master, lying in thebed, lifted up both his hands to his forehead and folded his palms, “Jaya bhagavan. Jaya bhagavan.”This man merely nodded in acknowledgement. He had come on very serious business. The discipleconveyed his message: “I have come to know that on one occasion you spoke ill of me.” SwamiSivananda looked at him and then he realised that this was not a very congenial meeting betweentwo holy men, this was an invitation to fight. Gurudev looked at him and said: “I don’t remember......... I don’t remember having said anything against you.” “I have the proof that you scandalisedme,” the man said. “I don’t remember anything. I don’t usually criticise others,” said Gurudev. Theother man continued, “I have got disciples all over the world and I’m going to let all of them knowthat you are a scandal-monger.” Immediately one saw Gurudev’s face tensing. Within seconds thatsoft face, which exuded love, became stern. He said sternly: “Alright. Do what you like. Go.” Weall stood there, flabbergasted. Swami Sivananda was not weak, he could be very stern. “See God inall,” that is what he taught everybody and what he did. Even in this instance–"If you, my God, cometo fight with me–well, come on." This leader was the only holy man who was received anddismissed so abruptly by Gurudev.So, humility should not be confused with weakness. Humility can only arise when there isthis spirit of total renunciation coupled with the realisation that God is all; not only that God is in all,but God alone is all.Gurudev was quite happy to have his birthday celebrated. As a matter of fact he used toinitiate the whole thing. Right in the month of April, one morning he would come to the office andsay, “Venkatesananda Swami, have you started preparing the circulars inviting articles for thebirthday souvenir booklet? The first circular must be like this, the second circular must be like that............. Call some musicians, do this, do that.” He used to initiate all that himself.Why? Gurudev himself gave the reasons. “Any occasion for celebration is good. It doesn’tmatter what you call it–birthday, Guru Purnima or Sivaratri. When people come together, we havesome nice satsang. Who is interested in this body being worshipped or not worshipped?” On thebirthday, we had a huge big plate and about twenty or thirty people would sit around it and throwflowers at his feet. While we performed padapuja, he would sit there, looking around to someone orthe other, enquiring about their welfare. Would the people have come to the ashram if the birthdaywere not being celebrated? No. So, this was an opportunity to bring them there.Gurudev also took a keen part in having his biographies published. The wife of a greatpolitical leader visited the ashram once. As usual she was welcomed and greeted and offered coffeeand fruits. It was also usual for Swami Sivananda to give every such visitor a set of whatever booksthere were, especially the newly published ones. It so happened that at that time we only hadbiographies of Gurudev, written by several people. All these biographies also contain one section of68

VIRTUE AND VISIONteachings, just as the teaching books also contain one section of biography. However, all the titleswere, “Sivananda, the World Saviour,” “Sivananda Lord Incarnate”, “Satguru Sivananda,”“Jagatguru Sivananda,” and so on. This lady looked at all those books, she was not pleased at all.She looked at Gurudev and said, “Swamiji, why do you allow all these biographies, thisself-glorification to be published in your own ashram?” Her face showed displeasure. His answerwas something fantastic; nobody else could have come up with such a simple answer. He looked ather as if she was his own daughter, his own child and said. “That is what brought you here, I think!”And that of course was the truth. There is a saying, “When the flower blossoms, the bees come andgather around it.” But that is true only if you are a bee. How do you know that there is a personcalled Swami Sivananda here? Through these very books. The lady was deeply impressed. I havenever seen such a proud and powerful person do namaskar (salutations) as humbly as she did thenand she never asked another question, And Gurudev had only his great smile, no offence was taken.Even there, there was neither vanity nor the vanity called ‘humility.’Vanity can take two forms. First, the guru thinks or says: “Look what a great man I am. Somany people have written about my life.” Second, there is another kind of vanity: “I don’t allow anyof this nonsense to go on in my ashram. I don’t approve of people glorifying me. What, they’vepublished my picture? Destroy it.” Gurudev used to call it maha-vanity (supreme vanity) on themodel of maha-yoga. Gurudev had none of this. You could write what you liked about him.One more instance: which not only shocked, but worried us. Someone from Madras senttwo books with flashy titles for review. And the price was even flashier, one cost 25 rupees and theother about 40. In those days books were cheap; none of our publications was more than 10 rupees.Gurudev said, “Write some nice review to be published in the Divine Life magazine.” I took thebooks to my room and opened one at random–the language was familiar. This whole page I had readsomewhere before! I had a bookshelf with Swami Shivananda’s books there, so I pulled down his“Hatha Yoga.” There it was–absolutely word for word. It had been copied. Then I looked at the newbook again and on the back of the title page was printed in big bold letters, “Strictly forbidden toreproduce any of this ......... the copyright rests solely with the author.” So I took the book back toGurudev the next day. His only comment was “What a first-class title he has given. He has broughtout something nice. After all, it is also dissemination of knowledge, which is very good. It doesn’tmatter.” It is only in the complete absence of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ that it no longer matters whether myname is there or your name. Then perhaps one can experience this spirit of renunciation.When people started to recite, “Om namo Bhagavate Sivanandaaya” or “Jaya jaya AaratiSivananda,” he himself would join in. “Why identify myself with this name and form?Renunciation is not born of an idea of renunciation, nor of the feeling, ”This is something terribleand must therefore be renounced." When you say, “This is terrible,” you have given it a value whichit doesn’t have at all. This body is only a walking corpse! As long as it breathes, it will walk; and itwill breathe as long as it has to breathe. Are ‘YOU’ this body? Do ‘YOU’ have something to dowith it? And all that is related to the body, is it ‘yours’? They are only yours if you are this body.When this idea is dispelled, there is no ‘I’-feeling, no ego-sense towards the body, nor a ‘mineness"to what is related to the body.If by celebrating the birthday some more people can be reacbed–go on, do it. If bypublishing these biographies more people can be inspired, do it. Gurudev was unattached to name69

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAand fame, but in an effort to abandon or shun name and fame, he did not abandon opportunities toserve. If name and fame would widen his field of service, enabling him to serve a greater sector ofhumanity, if more people would be attracted to the path of the divine by a feather being added to hiscap, Gurudev would welcome it. The wider the field, the more intense became the service and themore constant and deep was his attitude of devotion to the welfare of all beings.The fear of public criticism which stops this kind of activity, springs from thenon-renunciation of the ego. Why are you afraid of public criticism? Because you have such atremendous self-esteem; you do not want to be hurt. Drop that also. This spirit of renunciation says,“Kill this little ‘I’,” then there is humility, which at the same time leads to the vision of God in all.Pratyahara (Abstraction of the Senses)We have already seen how Gurudev was extremely regular with the practice of YogaAsanas and Pranayama. In regard to Pratyahara he had something interesting to teach anddemonstrate to us. He himself called it “Battle-field Pratyahara.” In the every midst of din andbustle, noise and nuisance, disturbances and distractions, you should be able to concentrate on athought, or on the work in hand at the moment. You should be able to withdraw your mind from theexternal objects and concentrate it within. This is what Gurudev did. Visiting aspirants often satnear Gurudev in the office and wondered how he carried on all his important work there with half adozen typewriters clattering, surrounded by men and women of all nationalities and temperaments.In the busiest centre of the Ashram, where people come and go, run and shout, there the sage used tosit, intently absorbed in his work, paying as keen attention to it as he would do if he were alone in acave. The technique for this has already been explained. Close the eyes and mentally repeat theName of the Lord every few minutes, thus learning to withdraw the mind from the external objects.MeditationGurudev’s extreme fondness of meditation was recalled by the monks of Swarg Ashram:how, in spite of his consuming love of selfless service Gurudev would frequently hide himselfbeneath a rock on the Ganges bank and would be missing for a number of hours. Sometimes hewould disappear into the surrounding jungle and remain in isolation for a few days; then he wouldsuddenly reappear in their midst as mysteriously as he had disappeared. In his personal diary too,there are notes like, “I should meditate more: sixteen hours at a stretch.” Gurudev was very regularin his practice of meditation. Early in the morning and at night before retiring to bed meditation wasa must for him. All spiritual gatherings and singing of the Lord’s Names would invariably end witha two minute silent meditation. Besides this, Gurudev would every now and then, withdraw himselfand become deeply meditative.Most of us when we were very young, were tremendously attracted by one brief pamphletfrom the pen of Swami Sivananda, and it was “Samadhi in six months.” When people went to hisAshram for gaining Samadhi in six months, he said, “It is quite simple. Sit down in the lotusposture, focus all your attention on this mantra and do not think of anything else.” It doesn’t eventake six minutes–if you can do it. You can have samadhi in six months, no doubt, provided you canconcentrate your total attention on a mantra and stop thinking. Then the Master went on, “If you70

VIRTUE AND VISIONcannot do that then do some service and quite likely after a few years you may be able to dosomething about samadhi.”If you went up to him and asked him, “Swamiji, can you teach me meditation?” What did hesay? “Repeat God’s Name.” But then he did not stop with that, he demanded that the entiremind-stuff should be saturated with the mantra, or conversely the mind must merge completely inthe mantra. How does one do that? What do we know about mind-stuff? What is it to saturate themind with the mantra? Even if you adopt Swami Sivananda’s method of repeating this mantrawhenever the mind is not otherwise occupied, even then the mind will soon get saturated with themantra.What does it mean to merge the mind in the mantra? Or what does it mean to saturate themind entirely with the realisation of God? What does it mean and how does one attain this? This iscalled meditation. Meditation cannot be taught. Even the Master did not attempt to teachmeditation; however, unlike some others, he did not shy away from the word, nor from the conceptof teaching meditation. He presented a technique, a method and said, “But be careful. This is not thewhole thing.” If you pick up his book called ‘Concentration and Meditation,’ there are dozens oftechniques and methods given and even other things are dealt with like, for instance, exercises forthe cultivation of will-power and memory. All these methods aimed at the training of the mind.When you are training to meditate, can the whole, the total mind-stuff, the total attentionflow towards one–whatever it is. That is concentration and what happens afterwards is meditation.Meditation is an indescribable inner experience or self discovery. When we asked Gurudev, “Whatis meditation?” he said, “It is like the flow of oil, the continuous flow of God-consciousness withinthe heart.”One man in his thirties came from South India to stay with us, and spent a large proportionof his time in meditation. This man could be seen sitting bolt upright on a rock by the Ganges fromat least 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. every morning. We finished our class at 6.30 a.m. but one morning theMaster was talking to us, and at 7 a.m. the man came into the dining hall where we were assembled,and approached Gurudev devoutly.The Master turned to him and said: “Om Namah Sivaya, you were in meditation?”“Yes, Swamiji”–he thought the Master was appreciating him.“Ah, you are very regular?”“Yes, Swamiji,” and the Master also seemed enthusiastic.This man thought he had won Gurudev’s admiration at least, if not grace.“Yes, Swamiji.”“From how long were you sitting there?”71

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGA“Since 4 o’clock I go at 4 and get up only at 7.”“3 hours!”“Yes, Swamiji, whether it is summer, winter, spring or autumn, snowing or hailing,whatever may happen; 4 to 7 I sit there.”“Hah, that’s very good, and you enjoy deep meditation?” And as usual, the Master closedboth his eyes and then opened one–that meant something very important, we knew it. Gurudevcontinued, “Deep meditation, samadhi ?”“Yes, Swamiji.” The man still thought that Gurudev was praising him. But then Gurudevwent on, “Well, be careful, lest you get drowned in the Ganges.” The man was a bit puzzled–andGurudev added, “Do you know the quickest way to enter into that blissful state? I’ll tell you. Takesome nice cold rice and curd prepared from buffalo’s milk. Stretch yourself on a nice bed with goodsoft pillows. Breathe deeply, with just a little sound. Relax. You will instantly enter into a blissfulstate–sleep! Do you know what meditation is? Meditation means touching God, touching Brahman,communion with the omnipotent God. Meditation is touching this cosmic being, touching theinfinite”–and then Gurudev opened both his eyes. “But you are sleepy, drowsy. If you touched thatinfinite consciousness, you could transform the world, work wonders; you would be able to takethis whole universe, the whole cosmic space and roll it up, like a piece of leather–such energy youwould have, such power. And here you are coming out of meditation, dull, sleepy. Huh, What isthis?” (Perhaps you have seen babies changing mood–it was like that during those five minutes.Now he was teasing, now he was cross, angry, stern, severe and then there was a supremecompassion and love).“Ohji, don’t waste your time. Sitting there like a stone on a block of stone is waste of time.Give it up. Sit there and do japa for a little while–half an hour, one hour, that will do. The rest of thetime do some useful work. Take a couple of buckets, fetch some water and fill the kitchen tanks (inthose days there was no running water system and we ourselves had to carry all the water for thekitchen from the river)–then you will know what samadhi means.”“Be active. Serve. Your lethargy will go away. Then you will know what purity is. Onlywhen your mind is filled with purity will you be able to meditate.” Now we understand whyGurudev combined dynamic selfless service with complete seclusion and meditation during hisSwarg Ashram days. The one provided the acid test for the other. Selflessness in service is thetouchstone for the depth of meditation and the natural ease with which meditation becomes possibleis the test of real service rendered with the proper perspective. This is what Gurudev asked everyoneto practise.If you blindly adopt any of the techniques which you pick up from books, you may not knowthe difference between sleep and samadhi. You can watch your breath, listen to your breathing,Gurudev suggested something slightly different, although the principle is the same. Instead oflistening to the breath, things of God, repeat a mantra, associating it with the breath. As you go onmentally repeating your mantra, concentrate fully, focus ALL your attention, all the rays of yourmind on that one spot, this will lead to meditation and to samadhi.72

VIRTUE AND VISIONSiddhis (psychic powers) or (perfection)What attainment can be greater in this world than the achievement of God-realisation, theSupreme Reward of Yoga. Gurudev himself did not trumpet his own realisation nor did he go aboutcanvassing admiration for his wonderful vision of God. The philosophy that he applied to himselfand to all others and all else in the world was “know him by his works...” Palmists and personsendowed with psychic power and clairvoyance assured us that even before he got himselfpermanently established in the highest plane of Cosmic Consciousness, Gurudev had had a face toface Vision of God not less than three times, and that, mark this well, he had had the first evenbefore he left Malaya and renounced the world.What matters to us, however, is what he was able to do for us, the help of the highest typethat he was able to render to mankind. People who have had nothing more than hallucination,parade the streets proclaiming that they have seen God. Mankind is not saved, but deceived, bythem. In Gurudev humanity has a Saviour.Gurudev regarded miracles or psychic powers as the greatest obstacles and warned thespiritual aspirant against them. Though he himself undoubtedly possessed miraculous powers ofthe highest order, he never openly admitted them, but rather disowned them when they werebrought to his notice, saying: “The Lord is performing these miracles in order to create faith in moreand more people.” He did not like psychic powers and never encouraged the spiritual aspirant inpursuit of them.Somebody might come and say, “Swamiji, you appeared in my dream and put your hand onmy stomach and my cancer was cured.” His response always was, “Ah, it’s all God’s Grace.” Henever owned it himself. People used to come to him: “I saw you in a vision and my life was saved,”and he would say, “Yes, Bhagavan (God) does all this.” When something had gone wrongaccording to our judgement, somebody perhaps had robbed the Ashram, harmed the Ashram, ordone some mischief; even then he would say, “God is doing all this.”This happened in Malaya. A Tantric Yogi approached Gurudev (then still Dr.Kuppuswamy) and promised to teach him a formula enabling him to do wonderful things with thehelp of Hanuman. It seems Gurudev liked the idea of repeating the mantra, but not that of callingupon Lord Hanuman to answer queries. “Gods should be worshipped and adored, not made to serveus,” he said, and sent the Yogi away with a small purse.Gurudev was not really conscious that he was doing something wonderful. When he metyou, your inner personality revealed itself to him, as clearly as this paper appears before your eyes.He did not have to exercise any special powers. Your heart and mind were an open book to him; thethought that you might think would just occur to him too; and the wish that arose in your heartwould easily be understood by him, it would be audible to him. It was all perhaps just a happycoincidence “I also thought like that,” he might say, or doing what you had mentally prayed for, hemight merely remark, “I thought you would like this.” You would be amazed, not he; to him it wasnatural.73

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAMiraculous cures had been effected by prayers conducted at the Ashram by Gurudev.People who had faith had attained the object of their desires by opening their heart to him, bysincerely praying to him and by devotedly serving him. Quite a number of these experiences werepublished in the book, “Miracles of Sivananda.” Similarly with Gurudev’s miracles reported bydevotees from abroad. They are all true: they have seen him and heard him. Gurudev often thoughtparticularly of quite a number of devotees, in order to send them books or to reply to their letters.His was a supermind, endowed with phenomenal psychic faculties, therefore the thought would atonce establish a psychic contact between the preceptor and the disciple. Through this channel, themost powerful and concentrated beam of Gurudev’s consciousness flowed, understanding thedisciples’ needs and bringing about miraculous visions and messages. It was something like a‘reflex action’ with Gurudev; it was natural and normal.It is now easy to understand how people living physically far, far away from him, felt drawnto him and got visions of him. They needed his service and Gurudev was eager to serve them,adopting the basic attitude that all bodies belong to the one Virat (cosmic being) and all mindsconstitute the one Hiranyagarbha (cosmic mind). This attitude was Anubhava (direct realisation)for him.It is equally easy to understand how those who did not receive any message from his lips,nor even listen to his lectures or songs, people who had merely had his Darshan felt a greatersatisfaction than they would have had after listening to the inspiring lectures of other monks. By hisconstant eagerness to serve all and to relieve the suffering of all, and with this eagerness itself beinga great perennial prayer for the welfare of mankind, Gurudev won the hearts of all mankind. Hebecame spiritually one with the whole of mankind, constantly radiating supreme joy, peace, life andlight. In his very presence, therefore, people enjoyed healing vibrations, peace-giving lightemanations. His very look elevated, transformed and sublimated everything it alighted on.Godliness wafted around him: the darkness of atheism, worldliness and undivine elementsvanished from the heart which the light of Gurudev’s grace penetrated. Meditation had impartedsuch lustre to Gurudev’s countenance, such power to his eyes, such an irresistible magnetism to hisentire personality, and Gurudev’s aura was such that people who approached him with a hundredcomplaints were silenced and enmity fled his very presence. This aura had actually been seen bysome of Gurudev’s devotees.Gurudev readily initiated every devotee who approached him into any Mantra or formulathat the devotee chose and instances have been countless when the devotee thus initiated, felt theinitiation as the most important turning point in his career...the day on which he began to experienceinward peace and inexpressible bliss. Naturally, for Gurudev had attained at-one-ment withGodhead, the goal of all Mantras; and thus earned perfection in all Mantras. Gurudev himself wasthe supreme channel through which divine power and grace flowed; and when during theMantra-initiation ceremony, Gurudev repeated the Mantra of the tutelary deity for the disciple toutter it after him, the Mantra was instantly linked to the spiritual force of Gurudev which enlivenedthe Mantra and implanted its flaming spirit in the inmost core of the recipient’s heart. Those whohad thus been initiated by Gurudev, themselves attained perfection in Mantra very easily.He demonstrated wonderful miracles through his soul-elevating divine songs. Those werethe days when fashion reigned supreme and educated people were shy to repeat God’s Name. And,74

VIRTUE AND VISIONthere were those, too, who were against singing the Names of the Incarnations of God like Ramaand Krishna since God was ultimately nameless and formless. That was their view. Listening toGurudev for a brief while was all the remedy that these people needed; and they invariably sang theDivine Name and danced with him on the public platform throwing their delusion, their foolishfashions, and their doctrines, to the winds. What miracle can be greater than this? Gurudev becamesuch an embodiment of supreme devotion to the Lotus-Feet of the Lord that anyone who came intocontact with him received the waves of devotion in spite of himself.By his own glorious example Gurudev has demonstrated that the true devotee of the Lord iscompletely free from evil qualities like jealousy, hatred, anger, pride, etc. Gurudev rejoiced at theprosperity of all institutions, blessed and promoted the cause of what we regard as rival societies,and was all admiration for all. This is a very rare divine virtue, which even the great ones often lack;and its presence in Gurudev in its positive dynamic aspect, was the fruit of the practice of intenseand ceaseless devotion to the all-pervading Divinity.Gurudev’s Divine Life Mission, the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy, the Ashram andSivananda Nagar that have grown up rapidly on the bank of the Holy Ganga are the most tangibleproofs of the mysterious power that this Divine and incarnate God-head possessed.The Sivananda Ashram is a wonderful and eloquent monument to the Yoga of Synthesisthat Gurudev preached. Take bath in the Ganges flowing close-by and purify yourself. Repeat theLord’s Names on the Ganges-bank. Have Gurudev’s holy company in the office. Serve the sick inthe hospital. Do some selfless service in the office and take part in the Jnana Yajna (disseminationof spiritual knowledge). Study spiritual literature in the library. Sing Lord’s Names in the bhajanhall. Worship the Lord in the temple. Practise asanas and pranayama under the guidance of adeptsin Yoga. Listen to the illuminating discourses of highly evolved souls and Vedantins. Studyscriptures on the temple verandah. Retire into the forest adjoining the ashram for a period ofseclusion, Brahma-Vichara {Enquiry into Brahman the Supreme Being) and intense meditation.The ashram provides you with food for the body in the kitchen, food for the mind in theoffice and library, food for the intellect during the Forest Academy classes, and food for the soul inthe invisible presence of Gurudev.Let not those who enjoy looking at the lovely Sivanandanagar, who dwell in it and partakeof its comforts forget that every brick of the numerous buildings and every one of its variedactivities owes its existence to this Divine Being who, in order to demonstrate the glory of devotionto God, walked into Rishikesh with nothing more than the shirt on his back, without a penny, livedon alms for a number of years, served and worshipped the Lord in multifarious dynamic ways,which today have grown as the wonderful institution admired the world over.The Mighty Intellect Of GurudevBesides these psychic powers, the Yogi also acquires some marvellous powers of the mindand intellect. It was this absolutely perfect control of the mind that enabled Gurudev to give theworld such a ceaseless stream of the most sublime spiritual literature, writings, which sprang form75

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAthe infinite source of consciousness, highly inspiring, able to pierce the heart of the reader and tearasunder the veil of ignorance.He was the author of over 300 books, no doubt, but remember that he was the head of adynamic institution (with all its interpersonal, financial and administrative problems) with aworld-wide network of branches, and he managed an ashram housing 200 permanent inmates and afloating population of an equal number of visitors. And the books flowed steadily from his pen, notby fits and starts in an eccentric manner. He did not depend upon the mood, as all of us must. Hecreated the mood, he commanded the mood. He had not to sit and wait for inspiration, as mostreligious writers have to. He was perpetually in an inspired state of mind, and he had just to open thetap to let the fountain of inspiration flood the world. He did not need a modern well-furnishedup-to-date “study” for his study and writing. The corner of his room, crowded all round with trunksand almirahs, would do for him. For, the moment he applied himself to the task, he forgot hissurroundings. And, he did net gather material and then go to a hill-station, as the most famousnovelists do in order to complete the work.Intense and protracted practice of meditation had a most miraculous effect on Gurudev’smind. It was ever longing to turn inward for a brief moment. During devotional singing, thisindrawn look of bliss was clearly noticeable. Gurudev’s half-closed left eye had a vacant look andthe face radiated joy. Meditation on the various deities (Bhairava, Narasimha, Surya, etc.) hadconferred various miraculous powers upon Gurudev. These manifested themselves at the propermoment, even without Gurudev inviting them.Many were wonderstruck by the motley crowd that surrounded Gurudev every day in theoffice. People of completely different temperaments, of different nationalities, of differentaspirations and with various desires, all came to the lotus-feet of the sage seeking sympathy, solaceand the solution to their problems. People used to be puzzled at the minute-to-minute changes thattook place in Gurudev’s personality, behaviour and attitude in regard to the people-around him. Allin the same breath he cheered up the distressed, consoled the bereaved, comforted the afflicted,dictated his directions to the disciples, initiated a novice, demonstrated pranayama to an aspirant,nodded his head and “thanked” like an Englishman, folded his palms and greeted like an Indian,closed his eyes and contemplated like a supreme recluse and laughed and made others laugh withhis educative humour.How did he do all this? Even though all these were varied expressions of the one cosmiclove that flowed from his heart, they differed in accordance with the needs of the person to whomthey were directed. Everyone got what he needed. The problem that were placed before him wereoften preposterous, but not so to him. Impossible things were asked of him, but he had nothing butlove and sympathy for all and he knew exactly how to deal with each case, for the simple reason thathe at once became one with the person approaching him. When he was conversing with you, youwould feel that he was your fond mother, full of love and compassion. Half an hour later, he wasaddressing a small gathering: “Renounce the world as though it is a straw. Wake up!” Then wefound him worshipping in the Ganges and now he was something else. And on the day he initiatedhis disciples into the holy order of Sannyas, again he was different–a blazing fire–you couldn’ttouch him, you couldn’t even approach him. He was all radiant and in that state, aspirants couldhardly gaze at Gurudev’s divine form without being struck with awe. Gurudev himself was76

VIRTUE AND VISIONunaware of these different manifestations of his spiritual personality. So here was an example ofcomplete and total perfection–perfection in perfection. That was his nature. Most important,however, was his peace-radiation. Sitting in his solitary abode on the bank of the holy Ganga,Gurudev radiated peace and bliss to the entire world.CHAPTER FIVESELF-KNOWLEDGEGurudev’s Jnana Yoga was something unique, wonderful. It is here that he distinguishedhimself from all the great acharyas (teachers), and from virtually every saint or sage of the past. Hedid not neglect vedanta, as some karma yogins had done; nor did he neglect Karma Yoga as thosewho profess to be non-dualists are often inclined to do. Even as regards the yoga asanas, he oftenwarned aspirants against the wrong application of the vedantic formula–"I am not this body" tocover up their lethargy in this very important respect and neglect their health.A little caution is necessary in order not to let the mind escape into idealism. Gurudev,therefore, gave a clear-cut formula: “Realise that the sum total of all physical bodies constitutes theVirat (macrocosm); the sum total of all minds is Hiranyagarbha (cosmic intelligence) and the sumtotal of all the souls is Iswara (supreme Lord).” This at once allows a relative reality to the body,mind and individual soul. He fused wisdom and action, and refused to concede that the vedantinmust shun the world and rigidly seclude himself. He defined Karma Yoga itself as dynamic practiceof vedanta or of bhakti.On the 15th January, 1956, Gurudev was discussing with the ashram authorities theexorbitant charges that a printing press had made for the printing of a small book. It was the generalfeeling that the printers had cheated the Divine Life Society. Like a flash of lightning cameGurudev’s remark: “Well, think that you yourself are enjoying the money from those who havecheated you and are none but your own self. This is the key to peace and happiness.” This is asupreme vedantic formula for perennial peace and supreme bliss. But it takes a lot of hard innerwork to feel that the man who has robbed you, who has cheated you, who has harmed you, for hisown enjoyment, is your own self, and that his pleasure or enjoyment is yours. With Gurudev thisattitude was natural and hundreds of instances can be cited where he had readily applied thisformula.Gurudev emphatically declared that Vedanta provides the spiritual aspirant with the ideal tostrive for, the goal to be reached here and now. What is the goal? The realisation of the one commonconsciousness. In order not to forget this goal and to keep the inner zeal afire, Gurudev exhorted theaspirant: “Resort to the company of the wise, hear vedantic discourses, reflect and meditate uponvedantic formulae. But your actual practice will of course be selfless service and devotion to God.”He discouraged vain discussions of vedanta and did not lend an ear to dry, vedantic talk.77

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGADuring the All-India tour, Gurudev visited Benares, the supreme seat of Sanskrit learning.At a reception, given by the scholars of Benares, a member of our party, was worried that the Mastermight be asked questions in sanskrit, since he had written commentaries on many of the classicalsanskrit texts. I said to the man, “Wait, we’ll see how he handles it.” Sure enough, during thereception, the Master was led between two rows of scholars, and someone asked him a question insanskrit.Instantly, and without the least hesitation–and that was the beauty–he turned around,“Comment ca va? Comment appellez-vous?” and walked on. Two sentences in French thatsomeone had taught him. That poor person didn’t know what the Master had said–he just looked,his jaw dropped. Gurudev had no use at all for such showing-off tactics.He often said, “Vedanta is not something to be learnt from books. Nor can vedanticrealisation be transferred from one person to another. Serve, serve, and go on serving all selflesslyand egolessly. Be dynamic, untiringly so, and while doing all this, can you at the same time watchyourself, to see where there is selfishness, where there is vanity, jealously and greed; and can you atthe same time destroy it there–there at the root? Then the same service takes on a different form; theform of worshipfulness.”In due course you will attain vedantic realisation. When the heart is purified through thepractice of untiring selfless service, and steadied through the practice of devotion to God, then thelight of the self must shine in it. Then the Vedantic aroma will waft around you and all people willbe automatically attracted to you. You need not go about advertising. That is what we actuallyexperienced during Gurudev’s All-India tour in 1950 and in the ashram thereafter. Millions ofpeople crowded round Gurudev at every centre; millions heard him. By mere sight of him they feltthey had got everything.Gurudev’s life itself was vedanta illustrated. He practised and preached vedanta in dailylife, not dry, lip-service to vedantic truths. But to him the world of names and forms did not exist;there was only Brahman, the supreme being. He had this cosmic vision; therefore he had no desireswhatsoever, except the fulfillment of the divine plan. The Master used to sing very beautifully:“Sarvam brahmamayam jagat, sarvam BrahmamayamSarvam brahmamayam neha nana asti kinchana."(Everything is Brahman, there is no such thing as diversity).And he would improvise as he went along:“Mata Pita Brahman, larka larki Brahman ...... Father and mother brahman, son anddaughter Brahman, Milk and yoghurt Brahman, hot hot tea Brahman ..."Jnana Yoga stands on the bedrock of vairagya (dispassion) and Gurudev was born with it.This dispassion in him was always based on wonderful viveka (wisdom). Even in his early days, hewas full of wisdom and it was this that eventually led him to Rishikesh.78

SELF-KNOWLEDGEOf the sixfold virtues Sama (control of the mind), Dama (control of the senses), Titiksha(endurance), Uparati (satiety in contact with sense-objects), Sraddha (faith) and Samadhana(proper concentration); suffice it to say he was full of these. He had no attraction for the goods of theworld, and applied himself to doing good to all. He took up, carried out and completed every workwith a zeal, faith and devotion that pertain to a man full of ambition, but Gurudev’s inner attitudewas different. This inner attitude demonstrated the fourth of the four means i.e. Mumukshutva(yearning for liberation). Elsewhere his very words were quoted to show that when he came to Indiaafter renouncing the world, the only central idea in his mind was, “I should realise God now.” Alsohe always behaved in such a manner that everyone of his actions inspired the highest type ofMumukshutva in other aspirants. His actions were so perfectly selfless, egoless, and desireless, thatthey snapped the bonds of karma. He lived, moved and had his being in a state of liberation, beyondeven the desire for liberation. Who will desire a thing that has already been acquired? He wasestablished in that. Titiksha (endurance) was effortless in his case. Regarding endurance of physicalpain, there was surely no one else in the world who could equal him in this respect. Over-work,especially of the brain, gave him diabetes. The disease had to be kept in check if it was not tohamper Gurudev’s work. The most common treatment for diabetes is, of course, insulin. Aninjection every day. (In the later days, two!). And this went on for many years, until the end. Beforea qualified doctor was employed for the ashram’s charitable hospital, Gurudev himself would givethe prick on his own body. During the epochal All-India tour in 1950, we witnessed one of thegreatest miracles of Yogi Sivananda. Strain of unprecedented nature proved far too much for thisageing body. Really, it was killing, literally killing. We were in the city of Madras, and theprogramme there was especially heavy. From early morning 6 a.m. till 10 p.m. at night, Gurudevwas constantly on the move, talking and singing.This particular incident happened on the 2nd October 1950. There was a receptionorganised by the citizens at the museum theatre. Because he was going from one meeting to anotherhis throat used to get dry, so we kept a couple of flasks handy with apple or orange juice, and he hada drink before he went to the next meeting. On this particular evening, the flasks were empty, andalthough there was an orthodox Brahmin high court judge in the car with us and a large crowdassembled to hear Swamiji, waiting in the hall, he refused to go in and speak until he had had someorange juice. Then we went back to the theatre. Yet the same Swami, who insisted on having orangejuice before lecturing, three days later, in the same city, demonstrated something quite different.For three or four days he was running a high temperature and his throat was highly inflamedand full of dangerous ulcers, so much so that a little cough or sneezing caused bleeding from mouthor nose. Doctors were frightened. But Gurudev never even mentioned his condition to theorganisers of the tour and never allowed his physical troubles to interfere with the programme of hissoul-awakening service of the masses. Thousands and thousands of people in Madras had heard andseen him speak, personally and on the radio. Everybody agreed that he had conquered the wholecity. The last meeting before we left Madras was held in another big hall. There were about tenthousand people inside the hall and about 4-5,000 outside, who could not get in. Swamiji’s bodywas so shattered by this gruelling programme that he could not stand. He was holding onto themicrophone stand for support, perspiration pouring from every pore of his skin and drenching hisclothes. Yet he would not stop. The body, whose needs were supplied on one occasion must also bemade to perform its due function now.79

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAGurudev’s PreceptorAfter equipping himself with the four means, the aspirant is asked to proceed to thelotus-feet of the preceptor to undergo intense spiritual training for self-realisation. To whom shouldan incarnation of God, in whom there was neither mala (impurity of the mind), nor avarana (veil ofignorance) go? Gurudev needed no teacher to awaken him to the realisation of the Self to guide himin his spiritual practice, and to remove the obstacles on his path. Gurudev himself admitted that henever felt any difficulty in meditation; no obstacle could dare bar his path. This was so even beforehe renounced the world, even before he embraced the order of renunciates.Yet in order to emphasise the supreme need of having a preceptor or teacher, Gurudevsought the holy feet of H.H. Swami Viswanandaji Maharaj. Or, did he? Some time after Gurudevhad arrived at Rishikesh, he spent a night in ‘Charan Das public resthouse’ verandah. A few feetaway from him a venerable old monk was resting. The young man confided in the monk the purposeof his coming to Rishikesh. That monk did not take much time to recognise the futureBhumandaleshwar (the Lord of the earth) and hastened to grasp the supreme honour of being hispreceptor! The very next morning, Viswanandaji initiated Dr. Kuppuswamy into the Holy Order ofRenunciation with the sacred name “Swami Sivananda Saraswati”, a name which has become abye-word in the aspirant-world. The initiation over, Viswanandaji took leave of his divine discipleand went away to Benares.The uniqueness of Gurudev’s life stands as an example for people of differenttemperaments,–for the aspirant who should resort to the lotus-feet of the preceptor, as also for thoseothers, though their numbers may be extremely small, who are so highly evolved and whose heartsare so pure that they do not have to run after a human preceptor. What should they do? Gurudev’sown life is their guide.Gurudev’s attitude paralleled that of Lord Dattatreya. To him everyone who gaveexpression to a noble thought, who performed a noble deed, was his preceptor. He listenedattentively to the lectures of even baby-souls, lest he should miss the admonition of his preceptor.He often openly declared that his own disciples were his teachers. “I have learnt many lessons fromthem,” he used to say. This extraordinary attitude is extremely difficult for ordinary people toconceive of. By this Gurudev has demonstrated that, far from being convenient escapism, theindependence of the aspirant who does not seek and live with a preceptor, obliges the aspirant tohumble himself to such an extent as to be able to treat everyone, even his own servants and disciplesas his preceptor. Here, as in every other spiritual practice, Gurudev had discovered the best meansof keeping vanity away from its hide-outs. If you do not want any preceptor well and good; treateveryone as your preceptor.Experience was Gurudev’s greatest teacher. From every experience that he passed through,and had seen others pass through, he drew a lesson, and these lessons, he never forgot. For instance,he had seen in his youth, a whole bazaar being reduced to ashes because the shops had thatchedroofs. He drew the lesson that these roofs were insecure. Never in his life thereafter did Gurudevallow anyone to live in a house with a thatched roof; he would much rather let you live in the openthan in a cottage with a thatched roof.80

SELF-KNOWLEDGEBut Gurudev himself very often pointed out that this path (i.e. no preceptor in theconventional sense) is only for the aspirant who is very evolved and who is endowed with divinequalities to a very high degree. The others should approach a preceptor, get initiated by him andperform spiritual practice under his immediate guidance.Sravana, Manana, NididhyasanaDuring the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy classes, Gurudev frequently used to pull up aslumbering aspirant and question him: “Do you keep notes of the important points that you hearduring the class?” Most often, the aspirant did not! But Gurudev was not like that. He once said,“After the class is over, as soon as I return to my room, I reflect on the ideas I gathered during thelecture. Deeply meditating over them, gives rise to related sublime thoughts. All these I incorporatein an article and present it to the world.”Here in brief Gurudev had explained the threefold Jnana Yoga practice of Sravana, Mananaand Nididhyasana. Writing down the thoughts heard at a spiritual discourse or grasped during theperiod of study of scriptures is a sure way of ensuring that the mind does not slip into lethargy. Thispractice also helps reflection and eventually profound meditation.For instance, one fine morning, Gurudev had studied a Vedantic text in which the nature ofthe Supreme Being had been described as Satchidananda (Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute).He meditated upon this single formula and from this emerged the following poem which he gave tothe world as a wonderful aid to Nirguna meditation, i.e., meditation on the attributeless Being:Sat-Chit-Ananda.Existence-Knowledge-Bliss.Truth Consciousness Bliss.Life Light LoveImmortality, Wisdom, Happiness.All mean the same.Love melts into bliss.“This is Nirguna Meditation,” said Gurudev after reading the poem to us in the office.“Think of Sat-Chit-Ananda. Think of Atman or Brahman (the Supreme Being). Then think of theequivalents of the attributes Sat-Chit-Ananda which nearly denote the nature of Brahman. Parallelattributes will suggest themselves to your mind. Then go on meditating upon them. This is Nirgunameditation. You will have to go on thinking and thinking. Suddenly it will flash within you.” ‘It’means the Truth.Similarly from the scriptures like the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads, Gurudev selectedsome passages for reflection and meditation.Ahamatma Gudakesa Sarvabhutasayasthitah“I am the Self dwelling in all beings.”Isavasyam Idam SarvamAll this is pervaded by God.81

SIVANANDA’S INTEGRAL YOGAEkameva Adwitiyam BrahmaBrahman is one without a second.Gurudev also applied this wonderfully unique method to the Sharanagati Formulas.“Surrender is something which is easier to do than to keep up! And the fire that dies out is sooncovered over by the ash of the self-assertive egoistic nature. The frequent repetition of theseformulas will prevent thisHari Sharanam MamaSri Krishna Sharanam MamaSri Rama Sharanam MamaDurgam Deveem Sharanamaham PrapadyeSirman-Narayan Charanau Sharanamaham Prapadyeand the Gita verse:Sarva Dharman ParityajyaMamekam Sharanam VrajaAham Twaa SarvapapebhyoMokshayishyami Maa Suchanot).(Abandoning all duties, take refuge in Me alone: I will liberate thee from all sins; grieveThe realisation of Vedantic Unity was not a theoretical concept with Gurudev who lived thedynamic realisation of the spiritual aspect of this truth. He lived the Divine Life. Divine Life doesnot mean cutting yourself away from life and going to something divine; this life itself can bedivine; divinity is to be discovered in life, while living a full life–the fullest life. This is Divine Life.Wherever you are, whatever you may be doing, discover the divinity inherent in life. This is in factand in truth to discover this cosmic being, cosmic consciousness. The only thing that is absent fromthis kind of divine life is the ego-sense.“Kill this little ‘I’Die to liveLead the Divine Life.”KILL THIS LITTLE ‘I’–is a figure of speech, it doesn’t exist. When the inner light ofconsciousness is awakened, unveiled, then the little ego-sense is seen to be non-existent. It is notnecessary to destroy it, to kill it, in the usual sense of the word. You cannot destroy darkness; youcannot kill a shadow. When the light is brought in, the shadow is not there. That is Divine Life. Thatwas his life. He enjoyed and he suffered everything, like you and me, except that in his case, therewas no ego-sense at all. When we were with him we never felt that he was something other than us;he was not a holy man who was constantly looking at his eyebrow centre, and never caring to look atus. No, no. He was one of us, he joked with us, and ate with us and bathed with us. He sang with us.He played with us. He cried with us–yes, he could cry.On the other hand, during the All India Tour, he became the Lion of Vedanta, roaring at apublic meeting, and surrounded by dignitaries. There he was, Gurudev, The Supreme, the Mighty82

SELF-KNOWLEDGEIncarnation of God in whose presence ministers and judges were but children listening spellboundto his stern admonitions. They too, must have felt that glory which is self-realisation, compared towhich the greatest mundane glory fades into insignificance. Whether it be a mighty ruler of theearth, or a poor beggar, a learned pundit or an ignorant babe, to Gurudev, all were equal, equallyworthy of his veneration and love. He was one with all. The fruits of his self-realisation wereenjoyed by all mankind. Everything was for every-body because all are sparks of the one Divineflame which and which alone, Gurudev saw in all.CONCLUSIONThis Integral Yoga, this Yoga of Synthesis is Gurudev’s greatest gift to humanity, hisgreatest contribution to world peace, to commonweal and to the cause of the cultivation of humanbrotherhood. This yoga is broadbased and represents the cream of the teachings of all religions ofall scriptures of all countries. It is the universal common ground.The practice of this Yoga of Synthesis ennobles man, broadens his outlook, softens hisheart, enlightens his intellect and awakens his soul-consciousness. In the light of this yoga, manlives, loves and serves all. He strives to perfect himself, to remove his inner weaknesses and tocultivate virtuous qualities. Irrespective of the religion he professes, the creed he follows, and thecountry he belongs to, Gurudev’s disciple becomes a better man and strives to realise universalbrotherhood and universal Atma-hood, in his daily life. This is the ideal Gurudev placed before hisdisciple. Striving to reach this ideal, man can become a superman. In reaching it he realises God.Gurudev’s yoga is the yoga of the coming age.May Sri Guru Bhagawan, Lord Sivananda, Yogeshwareshwara, the Supreme Refuge of usall, and the luminous dust of whose lotus-feet purifies us, protect us and serve as our sole prop in thedark and dreary desert of samsara (worldly life). May he the Incarnation of the Almighty for everguide humanity by his invisible hands:from falsehood to Truthfrom darkness to Lightfrom mortality to Immortality.Glory to Gurudev!83